Stingrays – Killers or Kittens??
March 27th 2008 03:51
If you keep up with the mainstream news, you’ve probably noticed the amazing increase in stingray related deaths recently.
It seems that, ever since Steve Irwin’s untimely demise, stingrays have been responsible for a number of deaths around the world. Recently a woman was killed when an Eagle ray leapt onto her boat. The incident caused fatal head injuries.
You can read more about this unlikely event at CBS News.
CBS News Link
Here's what an Eagle ray looks like alive. Doesn't even have a maniacal look on it's face!!
I couldn’t even count the number of rays I have had the good fortune to see while diving. And there have been many, many types. Rays like the blue spotted ray, Manta rays (ok these don’t have stings, but they are being persecuted with the rest of them), Bull rays, Eagle Rays. The list goes on. Never, EVER have I been, in any way, threatened by them. (Except for that one time when a ray looked menacingly at me and I could have sworn I heard it call me a ‘bitch’ as I went past).
I have parked myself directly in front of them to photograph them. Nothing. I have hovered over the top of them, checking them out. Again, nothing. They have swum right by my husband and I, so close that you can feel their passage in the water. Nada. They just don’t have a mean bone in their bodies. (Well ok, technically, they don’t have ‘bones’ at all, but my point still stands!!)
Blue Spotted Ray minding it's own business.
A ray’s sting is not used for hunting. It is purely a defensive weapon. They only have two methods of defence available to them – flee or use the sting.
Realistically, if you were in an environment where everything is a potential predator and you are armed with only a vegetable knife and your determination to get out of there fast, you are probably going to try flight as your first line of defence every time. If you are pursued to the point of capture THEN you will employ the knife.
To prematurely throw the knife doesn’t make any sense. What if the next threat is bigger and meaner than this one?? It is best to keep the knife for a real threat – a ‘no other option’ time.
You can read all about rays and their stings (including the necrotising venom that can be present) with the following link.
Stingray article link
What I’m saying is that a ray has to feel threatened – cornered – to utilise the sting. No one need fear them, unless you put yourself in a position where you appear a threat. Or - of course - be directly in the path of one making a misguided leap from the ocean!!
Is that ray looking at me funny???
So, what do you think? Are stingrays pussycats or psychopaths? Are they conspiring against us? Or are they simply hapless participants in a series of unfortunate accidents?
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Comment by Nina
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Comment by Louie
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I LOVE manta rays, the are sooooo graceful i have been fortunate enough to see them a few times and swim with them,....... once i was telling the story of my first manta ray encounter whilst walkng along a beach, next minute another manta swam up beside usin the shallow water and followed us all the way down the beach, then when we turned around it followed us again back up the other end of the beach.....a man on the beach noticed and said if I didnt know better i'd say that ray is following you, it wa a truly amazing experience....cool post
Comment by Damo
I figure that they are like all animals.
Harmless until they get pissed off.
Comment by James Rickard
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Comment by Kim L
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