Friday 7 April 2017

Stingray Surprise


A few days ago DH, Mr Busy and I were watching pelicans and seagulls feed on some fish heads and guts that were dumped into the water, off the little jetty at Rhyll on Phillip Island.

Suddenly my husband wondered what that thing was, moving just beneath the water behind the pelican.  Imagine our surprise to discover an enormous stingray languidly moving through the water, in search of fish.  We watched it stop over a spot where there was a dead fish.  It hovered and flapped again, and then moved off.  And then another stingray joined in.  They moved about so gracefully and we took some video.

They were just so enormous and so smooth.  They were remarkably close to the shoreline.  I'm not a fan of swimming in Victorian beaches, they're too cold for my topical upbringing.  I'm even less inclined now that I know these enormous animals lurk so close by!  The picture above doesn't give any reference point for it's size, but it was at least a metre across.

It was a truly remarkable sight to watch these two rays stay close and wave their "wings" so beautifully.  Just amazing.

My boss came back from summer holidays with video of an octopus his family found in some rock pools.  You can be sure I'll be sharing my video of stingrays with him!

1 comment:

Tiny Toadstool Cottage said...

Wow! We only found some little fish and crabs in the rock pools at Point Lonsdale when we were away!