Only the eyes remain exposed, for example, of the skate, which burrows under the sand for short periods. Waiting patiently here for its prey, it seizes the most opportune moment to attack. When small fish, unaware of the ambush laid for them, approach sufficiently close, the skate darts out of the sand and catches them. While lizardfish, cuttlefish and sole employ the same strategy, the weever makes doubly sure with its poisonous stinger.

PREDATORY NOCTURNAL MOLLUSCS
Fish are not the only ones to use a hunting strategy that involves hiding under the sand. Molluscs such as crabs and prawns and cephalopods like the cuttlefish employ a similar strategy. Two species of prawn, Sicyonia carinata and Penaeus japonicus, and a species of crab, the Ilia nucleus, hunt in the same way as the skate. The only difference between them is their hunting times. Unlike fish, these molluscs hunt not during the day but at night. Night or day, however, hunting in this way always involves the risk that the predator will become the prey.