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Latest Ocean Terror? Flying Stingrays!

post #1 of 18
3/22/08 at 4:50pm
Thread Starter 
Going by the description of the stingray (75lbs and a 5 to 6ft wingspan), I don't think the photo does it justice....



http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,3203352.story

Quote:
MARATHON - A tourist was killed by a large sting ray off the Florida Keys Thursday morning when the barb-tailed animal jumped out of the water into the woman's boat, officials said.

Judy Kay Zagorski, of Pigeon, Mich., was sitting in a boat going 25 mph when a spotted eagle ray that weighed about 75 pounds and had a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet flew out of the water, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The 57-year-old woman's father was driving the boat on the Atlantic Ocean side of Vaca Key, where the city of Marathon is located, Pino said.

``He had absolutely no warning. It just happened instantaneously,'' Pino said.

The impact probably killed the woman, not the ray's venomous barb. "It doesn't appear that's going to be the case at this point because there are no visible puncture wounds," Pino said.

An autopsy will determine an official cause of death, Pino said.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office identified the animal as a spotted eagle ray, he said.

Rays are common in South Florida waters, but rarely swim near humans.

``Rays jump to escape a predator, give birth and shake off parasites,'' said Lynn Gear, supervisor of fishes and reptiles at Theater of the Sea in Islamorada in the Florida Keys. ``They do not attack people.''

Deaths from rays are rare.

In 2006, James Bertakis was severely injured in the Intracoastal Waterway in Lighthouse Point when an eagle ray jumped out of the water and lodged its 2-1/2-inch barb in his chest.

A month earlier, the popular TV "Crocodile Hunter," Steve Irwin was killed when a stingray barb pierced his heart as he swam near Port Douglas, Australia.

Spotted eagle rays can grow up to 17 feet in length, weigh up to 500 pounds and have a wingspan of up to 10 feet. They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not aggressive and use the venomous barb at the end of their tail as a defense mechanism.
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post #2 of 18
3/22/08 at 4:54pm
I love the pink hat they put on it.
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post #3 of 18
3/23/08 at 1:33am
Steve Irwin was only the first. . .
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post #4 of 18
3/23/08 at 2:58am
Shark attacks came before 9/11...

Stingray attacks come before...?
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post #5 of 18
3/23/08 at 3:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTSMGL View Post

Stingray attacks come before...?
4/11 - the day the worlds information networks crashed.
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post #6 of 18
3/23/08 at 3:23am
"So this is how it ends"
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post #7 of 18
3/23/08 at 9:48pm
In all seriousness, I read a book about dangerous sea animals when I was a kid - it had all the usual stuff: sharks, scorpionfish, etc., but also included chapters on marine animals that were poisonous to eat, and my favorite: "Dangerous By Accident". In that chapter, the author related a story about a woman sunbathing on the deck of her boat while her husband fished. He unintentionally hooked a ray (Didn't say what kind) and the ray jumped out of the water, soaring over the boat to land on the wife's legs, breaking both of them. I have to wonder if this is stuff that's always happened as long as humans and rays have interacted, & it's just getting more media coverage now, or is it indicative of a trend toward increased animal aggression some scientists are starting to chart? There was an article about that a month or two ago in Esquire, I think.
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post #8 of 18
3/23/08 at 9:57pm
You people didn't listen to me when I said we needed to fish with dynamite, well whose laughing now?!
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post #9 of 18
3/23/08 at 10:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by IggytheBorg View Post
There was an article about that a month or two ago in Esquire, I think.
It was in GQ, and yeah, that article was tons of fun to read until the author revealed it was 90% a hoax on his part. Just when I was thinking that in a decade I might have to go to war against gorillas and polar bears...
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post #10 of 18
3/23/08 at 11:11pm
Quote:
Deaths from rays are rare.
Fucking Yes.
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post #11 of 18
3/24/08 at 9:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTSMGL View Post
It was in GQ, and yeah, that article was tons of fun to read until the author revealed it was 90% a hoax on his part. Just when I was thinking that in a decade I might have to go to war against gorillas and polar bears...
Ah. I didn't get to finish that article (I was reading it in a Walgren's waiting for a prescription to get filled). Guess if I had I'd have known that. Sorry. Ignore the 'Borg in the corner.
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post #12 of 18
3/24/08 at 4:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTSMGL View Post
It was in GQ, and yeah, that article was tons of fun to read until the author revealed it was 90% a hoax on his part. Just when I was thinking that in a decade I might have to go to war against gorillas and polar bears...
That wouldn't be a war, that would be a massacre.

A poop flinging, seal eating massacre.
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post #13 of 18
3/25/08 at 2:31am
Wait, they jump when they give birth???? So you'd have 2 of the buggers comin' at ya???? Do rays have multiple births??? A Hail of Rays??? Now *that* would be an interesting death.
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post #14 of 18
3/25/08 at 2:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ianthe View Post
Wait, they jump when they give birth???? So you'd have 2 of the buggers comin' at ya???? Do rays have multiple births??? A Hail of Rays??? Now *that* would be an interesting death.
Military scientists are working to engineer a stingray that can reach an altitude of 2,000 feet while giving birth to dozens of children, which will then descend upon an unsuspecting target.
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post #15 of 18
3/25/08 at 2:46am
Yeah I thought of the carpet-bombing potential available, but then I thought "That's just going TOO far, surely they'd come down as solid masses of frozen fish from that kind of height, would we have enough seagulls in reserve to clean up the ensuing mess???"

All these questions!
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post #16 of 18
3/25/08 at 2:47am
It's not very cold at 2,000 feet.
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post #17 of 18
3/25/08 at 2:52am
Yeah I thought of that right after posting. But there's no elegant way to backtrack out of my ignorance.

EDIT: I'll just shut up now.
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post #18 of 18
3/25/08 at 2:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ianthe View Post
Although, exactly how do we know that a tropical stingray wouldn't freeze plummeting from that height at great speed?
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