Rays - how dangerous?

[herman]

I will admit all my experience is with Southern stingrays.....we catch and release a bunch of them so I am very aware of where their stinger is....I often use their tail as a handle to guide them back into the sea.

 

[Geoff_H]

A stingray requires external leverage pressing down on its body disk in order to direct its spine forward without flipping **** over teakettle. Thus, the spine cannot be used offensively.

I didn't actually watch the footage where Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray... however the initial accounts said he approached it from behind and was above it when it stabbed him in the heart.

From here Daredevil Irwin dies doing what he loved - Breaking News - National - Breaking News

it says

Marine documentary maker Ben Cropp, who spoke to one of Mr Irwin's crew, said: "Steve got probably maybe a bit too close to the ray, and with the cameraman in front, the ray must have felt sort of cornered.

"It went into a defensive mode, stopped, turned around and lashed out with its tail, which has a considerable spike on it.

I know a lot of what gets printed in papers is bunk, but that seems to contradict your assertion?

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

It's interesting to note that if you were to grab onto a ray to ride it, that would place it's barb near the center of your chest. Without a wetsuit, you would be in a very vulnerable position.

 

[herman]

It's interesting to note that if you were to grab onto a ray to ride it, that would place it's barb near the center of your chest. Without a wetsuit, you would be in a very vulnerable position.

And your approching it from behind and above...perfect angle to get stuck. My bet is he was intending to ride it, reguardless of what the reports say.

 

[archman]

I didn't actually watch the footage where Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray... however the initial accounts said he approached it from behind and was above it when it stabbed him in the heart.

Stingray tails tend to be muscular, but also highly elastic. It takes a great deal of force for the ray to actually bend the tail significantly. Such force normally exceeds the ray's own body mass... thus it will tend to *flip* over if it attempts to spine something.

A VERY LARGE ray *may* have a slightly easier time jerking its tail around, due to its greater body mass. Otherwise, the only way for the ray to keep from flipping over would be an external force holding it down against the bottom (eg a predator). Suction in soft sediments or body mass wedged into hard substrate could also act to provide leverage.

If some nut happens to be floating directly OVER the spine, it is possible (though unlikely) for the ray to evert its spine and jerk its tail up (barely) enough to *maybe* generate enough force for a penetration strike. But that is not what the stingray spine is designed nor functionally well-suited for. Someone would have to be REALLY CLOSE, and the ray particularly *vexed*.

I try to make close approaches to large stingrays from the front-lateral aspects. Odds of an offensive spine strike are *extremely remote*, but better safe than sorry.

 

[archman]

I will admit all my experience is with Southern stingrays.....we catch and release a bunch of them so I am very aware of where their stinger is....I often use their tail as a handle to guide them back into the sea.

The spine on a southern stingray is embedded at least a third down the length of the tail. A "basal" spine would need to be much more proximal, near the "butt".

It's interesting to note that if you were to grab onto a ray to ride it, that would place it's barb near the center of your chest. Without a wetsuit, you would be in a very vulnerable position.

Good lord, do people RIDE stingrays?! Please, send me pictures or weblinks so I can see this with my own eyes. WOW.:11:

 

[RoyN]

I don't ride sting rays but I did got flatten by a California Bat ray.