Environment

Giant Stingray Captured on Film: Smalleye Stingray Sighted

by Amy Judd | November 14, 2009 at 11:12 am

86026 views | 10 Recommendations | 2 comments

For the first time ever a giant stingray has been sighted off the coast of Mozambique and been captured on film; the species was only discovered in 1908 off Tofo in southern Mozambique.

The smalleye stingray is the largest of all the species of stingray, as it is over 2 metres wide, and an underwater camera crew from the BBC caught the creature swimming in the depths of the ocean.

See the BBC video of the smalleye stingray

The smallest species of stingray is the dwarf whipray (Himantura walga) and is just 24cm wide and the smalleye stingray can be over 2 metres wide.

Specimens have been caught before off the coast of Australia, Thailand, The Philippines, and Malaysia and occasionally in the Ganges and in the Indian Ocean. However, they have only been seen live off Tofo in Mozambique

Film of a live specimen was recorded by an underwater film crew working for independent production company Big Wave productions, which was making a documentary about manta rays with Dr Marshall.

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

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J2B (not verified)

at 18:07 on November 14th, 2009

wonderful!

Curtis Wilson (not verified)

at 21:33 on November 14th, 2009

On oneof mylast dives in the Phil. Islands around Batangus Bay in 1978 I came face to facewith a giant Stingray tha size was approximately 11 feet across more round than wing shape. It was about 2 feet at the thickest part, and had two spines on it's tail; the short one was about 18 to 20 inches in length and 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide, and layed on top of the larger one was about 4 1/2 feet long and around 3 1/2 inches wide. This was in about 35 feet of water on a long reef next to a deep water channel, and was also seen by my ex-wife. I was a PADI Diving Instructor while I was Stationed at Clark A.F.B. - Rep. P.I.. Most of the other Master Divers and Instructors thought that we were seeing things at the time. I also discovered three new Marine Species while I dove during the 2 1/2 years diving in the P.I., These were verified by one of the Master Divers doing a study for the United Nations during this Period. Curtis Wilson