Monday, July 24, 2006

Stingray!

This is actually a blue-spotted round or ribbontail ray; Taeniura lymma to be precise. I say that because although it has a stinged barb, there is another species of true stingray that has blue spots and is a confusion species so the more accurate name of round ray is more appropriate.

blue spotted ray

This is a prodigiously prolific species in the indo-pacific - I've dived with it in 5 countries and even seen it in 6 inches of water sunbathing 2 feet away from dry sand on a beach. Its gold and turquoise patterning and calm disposition make it an irresistible subject no matter how many I see.

1 comment:

Pam in Tucson said...

Gorgeous!