The Chilean Devil Stingrays can go far deeper than scientific researchers expected.

How far do you think it can go? Over a mile deep or more.

A new study was released last week by scientists of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Within the study, it was revealed that these marine creatures usually bask above the surface in the sun, to get warmed up before they travel to the sunless bottom to perhaps feed on fish, the Smithsonian.com reported.

These types of stingrays that can grow up to 10 feet long or more. For a long time scientists and researchers have often presumed that these nomadic creatures lived near warm water and a bright surface, the Smithsonian.com reported. Until now.

WHOI's study was gathered by electronically tagging 15 Chilean Devil stingrays (Mobula tarapacana) in the central North Atlantic Ocean near the Azores archipelago in 2011 and 2012. Then their progress was tracked by satellite, Nature World News reported. The tags remained attached for nine months. It was with this data that the researchers had measured water temperature, the depth to which the stingrays had traveled, and the light levels of the waters that they had traversed.

One of the researchers on the project had indicated that they determined their location, the time of day in which they traveled, and perhaps the reason why.

The Devil stingrays are typically nomadic marine creatures that can travel for immense distances across the ocean. But the study also revealed a secret of the stingrays, which allows it to go deep below the ocean. The stingrays have a special organ, similar to that of a great white shark, called the "retia mirabilia." in both the great white sharks and these stingrays, the "retia" is a "veined structure that fills with warm blood and it exchanges heat between the vessel walls," the Smithsonian.com reported. The warmth keeps these types of marine creatures' brains warm when they dive to icy depths of 37˚F.

The stingrays traveled across 30 miles of ocean per day, with all of the stingrays covering a distance of up to 2,300 miles over a nine-month time period. The stingrays dove regularly below 1,000 feet, with a maximum depth of 6,062 feet. Calculably, this means that these types of stingray are the deepest divers ever recorded for marine animals, the Smithsonian.com reported.

The researchers believe that the stingrays' deep diving is because they are searching for food such as fish or squid.

This study has revealed so much about the Devil stingrays: How deep they can travel in search of food, the organ in their brain that helps them to keep warm, and how far they travel across the oceans. It also indicates how important a role the stingrays play in the oceans ecosystems. Given their importance, the scientists feel that they should be protected from falling back onto the endangered species list, which was because of a high demand for their gills that were used by traditional Chinese medical practitioners, Smithsonian.com reported.

The more we know about the stingrays, the better we can do to protect them, the research team surmised.