Bluntnose Stingray

Bluntnose Stingray

Dasyatis sayi

Size: to 3 ft across

Habitat: Soft sandy bottoms, depths from shallows to 1400 ft.

Notes:
Potentially dangerous

The commonest inshore ray. Long smooth whip-like tail with stinger but no fins. Roughtail Stingray similar but larger. Smaller Atlantic Stingray and larger Southern Stingray may occasionally stray this far north as well.

stinger

Stinger: These are covered with poisonous mucous and backward-pointing barbs, like a fish hook. The greatest danger, however, is from infection. Injuries are common among surf fishermen in southern waters who accidentally step on the animals. An embedded stinger will not pull out, and generally must be removed by surgery. Otherwise, it will slowly work itself inward. Stingray wounds can take months to recover from.

Bluntnose Stingray
Steve Irwin

With modern medicine, stingrays are not considered life-threatening to humans, and deaths are extremely rare. Australian "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin was killed while snorkeling in 2006 by a stingray hit to the chest which pierced his heart - he lived long enough to say goodbye; nothing on earth could have saved him. It was extremely bad luck. ( That ray was described as 8 feet long, estimated 220 lbs, with a barb probably 6-10 inches long. Our stingrays are much smaller. )

For the most part, though, stingrays are mild and unaggressive creatures, as evidenced by "Stingray City" at Grand Cayman Island, where hundreds of swimmers and stingrays share the water without incident every day.

stinger
Loggerhead turtle with stingray barb and wound. The turtle recovered.

Stingray City
A large southern stingray allows itself to be handled at "Stingray City"


aluminum tanks

Scuba tanks are made out of steel or aluminum. Aluminum is cheaper and has somewhat better corrosion resistance, but steel is stronger. The "standard" modern scuba cylinder is the aluminum "80", which actually holds about 77 cubic feet of air at its rated pressure of 3000 psi. This type of tank has probably caught on because for an average-sized person with reasonably good breathing skills, this size is just big enough to cover your allowable no-decompression bottom time and no more. For smaller people, 63 cubic foot aluminum tanks are available, while for larger folks there are choices as big as 120 cuft.

Printed from njscuba.net