Quote:
Originally Posted by gonesail' date='29 July 2010 - 12:13 PM
do they sting?
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Not like a bee or wasp. They have a barb on their tail that can inflict a pretty nasty injury if one is stuck with it. The most common injury is when someone steps on one that is buried in the sand.
Sting rays are curious, but they're usually quite shy, darting away if someone approaches. It's when they are startled and swimming away that one can be injured if one is too close or steps on one.
I love sting rays, they are really cool. They are also delicious to eat, though Peter is so angry that one punched about 6 holes in our inflatable dinghy that he just starts muttering when talk turns to them.
The poor stingray who deflated our dinghy did not do it on purpose. We were anchored in a lovely bay in Tobago when a fellow who was swimming by looked up and asked us if we'd like a stingray. I immediately said Yes, and the fellow dove down and shot one with his speargun. He surfaced, raised the spear in the air to show us that he'd gotten the stingray, and tossed it into our dinghy. The stingray was not yet dead, and it flopped around in the dinghy, piercing it with its barb as it thrashed around. All I could say was "oops!" It was delicious, but Peter just couldn't enjoy it thinking about the patching job he was facing. Oh, well, so it goes.
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