I am respectful of but not afraid of stingrays, but here is another freaky story:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/19/stingray.reut/index.html

wow....weird

really, how unusual.

do you think mother nature is really peeved at us by now, and starting to fight back?

Typical news - half right. Ray shown on TV was not a stingray, picture at that Cnn site is doctored because it is a stingray with painted on blue dots. Lt somebody says rays rarely jump. I lived in Miami for 5 years spent many weekends at Virginia Key and saw them jumping frequently - were probably not stingrays but cownose or eagle rays. the Pass between Virginia Key and Key Biscayne was full of different rays during Fall and Winter months.
Grandpa got a one in 10 million chance of an evnt like that happening! Just MHO! (but pretty freaky)

The species that stung this fellow was a spotted eagle ray, very common in Belize waters and much admired by divers, less commonly seen by snorkelers.

I heard of an incident like that years ago here on the island where a guy got stung by a leaping ray in the shoulder area...they had to cut the bony stinger out. Full recovery. Water was rough, he was in a skiff, viz. was poor and the ray got panicked and disoriented when it jumped and flapped about.

It's already started SJ. Be afraid, be very afraid.
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/15227709.htm

OMG, even the fish are attacking!!!

thanks, PB. that gave me a good chuckle (on the surface. inside i AM very afraid. what's next, fire & brimstone? killer squid? poison dart slugs?)

Note to self: Pack bulletproof snorkel vest in suitcase tonite for trip to San Pedro tomorrow.

From the AP article. This sounds a bit more plausible than a rogue stingray.

"Bertakis was apparently trying to remove the spotted eagle ray from the boat when he was stung, police Cmdr. Mike Oh said. The ray was approximately 3 feet across and 18 to 24 inches long, Oh said. Officials have kept the dead ray in case doctors need to examine it, Oh said."

Rykat, that picture isn't doctored. It's a picture of a ray from the other side of the world.
No joke.

So you were right about the media portrayal being bogus. They just got the picture from the wrong ocean.

OK! I'll buy that just never came across the "round' type stingray in any color version other than brown back and whitish underside.

Blue spotted ray (sometimes called blue spotted fantail ray) Here's a great picture:

http://www.divegallery.com/spotted.htm

The ones that I've seen weren't very big; pretty though.

cool picture, what oceans are they found and is the barb at the end of their tail rather than 3/4 of the way up like some Atlantic species (and Pacific)?

Indo Pacific, Red Sea, East Africa and Australia.

As I understand it, the barb is not in the same place as most stingrays, but to tell you the truth, I never really noticed one at all on the rays I've seen. I was too busy being mesmerized by their grace and fabulous coloring.

The ray in the mov is an eagle ray as Chris says.... Please look at the mov, and don't look at the pic that the CNN-n00bs added.

Just another reminder to not molest the critters! In addition to the Sting Ray and Spotted Eagle Ray we have Electric Rays here. They are much smaller and I have only seen two, both out hunting at night. I shot some video both times and had to come back to my books for identification purposes. Beware; although small they can give an electrical jolt of 37 volts.

Spotted Eagle rays jump out of the water quite high as a defense mechanism to escape underwater predators or when they are startled.

You can see this happen on a regular basis in the waters off Ambergris inside the reef normally you cant identify as its so quick you just see the splash and when they hit the water they bolt in an instant escaping the predator.

it is very possible this is what happened in the this case the Ray was already trying to escape a predator and jumped and landed in the boat, any person trying to handle it would immediately be stung as part of its defense.

In 99.99% of instances snorklers and divers only the the back end of a Eagle ray as it swims away and close interactions are very brief and rare.

We used to have a wild one off Caye Caulker that would let us feed him this was a very very rare interaction not dulicated anywhere else in the world that i know of and I hosted many reporters and Photographgers that came from all over the world to get close up photos of this rare and fantastic chance to swim with 2 fairly tame Eagle rays,

You can see a pic and one of the articles at the following link

The writer Rick Frehsee said in 30 years of proffesionsl photography this was the first time he had full view of an eagle ray using a fisheye lense the photo was taken less that a foot away from me and the eagle ray.

http://www.skin-diver.com/departments/Di....asp?theID=1232

Normally they are very shy and certainly not a threat to divers and snorkelers.

After hurricane Keith we never saw the rays again they did not return but it goes donw as one of the best underwater encounters of my 20 year diving career.

Gaz

I love a good skate fillet or even hashed with onions and a avacado slice.

SIN

scubalady- came across one of those electric rays by Ramon's dock while snorkeling there one day, way in shallow near the beach. The body shape is exactly the same as electric rays in New Jersey (pretty rare but very large, 100lbs. plus) round head with an "upright" tail section and small dorsal fin.
This guy was pretty small, maybe 12" diameter. Poked around at him a little and he would not move from the position he was laying, made circles but stayed put. Each time I touched him he appeared to get more pi**ed, so after a minute or so I said goodbye. Cool creature.

Seashell,
This March in the shallows near South Water Caye, I saw a spotted eagle ray just about every day I was in the water. Got very close to it and the reason I knew it was the same one was that it had three barbs...I've seen many with one or two but this was the first I had seen with three barbs.
Another encounter I had was many years ago. Vicki Showler and I were leading a group in a sink hole near Tobacco Caye where we commonly see them. St the end of the snorkel Vicki and I decided to stay in the water for a bit longer and we spent quite a while eyeballs to eyeballs with two really large eagle rays. They are majestic creatures!
The news media does sensationalize stuff and have really done a disservice to a relatively harmless animal. Luckily for this gentleman he didn't try to remove the barb himself. Stingray barbs have recurved spines and trying to back it out from the point of entry will cause serious damage.

Saw two Spotted Eagle rays this morning, one by the fuel station and one by Wet Willy's. They looked very angry and seemed to be stalking dive boats.

I've had lots of sightings of eagle rays whilst diving in Belize waters and was fortunate enough to swim with one for a good portion of a dive out at Halfmoon Caye. No question they are quite beautiful and their cute little puppy dog faces always make me smile.

For clarity, in my earlier posts, I was only talking about the still picture that CNN had pasted alongside its article. That is a pictue of a Blue Spotted Ray and not a picture of a Spotted Eagle Ray. Yes, the pictures of the ray in the video are of an eagle ray. I never was denying that.

I've never been stung by a sting ray but I got a speeding ticket in one once.