(intense music)
- Those barbs will go right through my fins,
so I definitely need to be careful,
especially down here on the ocean floor.
The males tend to be more aggressive and a little bite-y.
(yelps)
(intense music)
The stingray, a bizarre and enigmatic ocean dweller
that tends to be the topic of conversation
everywhere I seem to go,
and since we began making wildlife videos,
the one creature that has come up
in the comments on this channel more than any other
is of course this barbed glider of the sea
and I think we all know why,
and I'm not out to explain that story.
Incidents in recent years have clearly given this creature
a menacing reputation, however, I want to experience
for myself the true nature of this animal.
And when I thought of the best place
in the entire world would be to do this,
my mind sailed right toward the crystal clear waters
of the Caribbean.
So get ready, if you're brave enough,
I'm bring you with me on my quest
to encounter the sting king of the deep.
All right, here we are.
We finally made it to Stingray City,
just about 35 minutes off the coast of Grand Cayman,
and I for one am super excited to go diving
with these rays today because these have become
one of the most talked about marine creatures
in the past decade due to the numerous reports
of people being stung or speared by their barbs.
So let's take a closer look at this barb,
and this is a big one.
This is a cast of a stingray barb, an exact replica,
and as you can tell, not only is it like a dagger,
but it also has serrated edges,
so when the barb punctures anything that it's stabbing,
it actually does a lot of tissue damage on the way out,
and we're talking a potential of multiple stings
when a stingray attacks.
It raises its tail in the air and then jabs upwards
so we have to be specially careful today
when we're in the water with these marine creatures.
And to add insult to injury, there's also a venom gland
at the base of the barb,
so not only are you gonna get stabbed,
you're also going to get envenomated.
Okay now before we get in the water,
we do wanna have a quick safety briefing with the crew
and find out just how we're gonna get these stingrays
up close today in the safest way possible.
Let's go check it out.
So by the looks of this, Shan, these stingray love squid.
- Yeah, they absolutely love squid, they'll eat it right up.
- Why are these stingrays okay being around humans?
- So years ago,
the fishermen in Grand Cayman would come here
after their catch and clean their fish,
and as they clean their fish
they're gonna just throw all of the guts over here,
and then rays started coming in, and from what I've heard,
a lot of the locals,
'cause they didn't really get in the water back then,
they thought that they were actually sharks.
They came in a told some of the dive shops on the island
and some divers came out here and discovered
there were giant Southern Atlantic Stingrays.
- So that's important for everyone to realize at home,
this is a very special situation
that we're going to be experiencing today.
This is a marine interactive zone.
You would never want to engage with a wild stingray,
or any wild animal for that matter,
if you weren't absolutely certain that it was safe to do.
Show me how we're going to pass the food.
- [Shan] I'm gonna place it in your palm--
- [Mark] And then you wanna close your hand really fast.
- [Shan] Close your hand really fast.
- [Mark] 'Cause if I do this, what's gonna happen?
- [Shan] Those fish are gonna come
and take that really quick.
- [Mark] Boom, and potentially take a piece of me with them.
- Yep, just a little nip. (Mark laughs)
- [Mark] Okay that's not what we want to happen.
Now the rest of this stuff,
this is what we're putting in our BCs right?
- [Shan] That's right.
- [Mark] And by our BCs, we probably mean my BCs.
- [Shan] We mean your BC, yes.
- Great, I think that about does it, Shan.
I think I'm ready to get down there
and interact with these rays, so we're gonna get suited up
and I'll meet you at the dive platform.
- Sounds great. - All right, let's do it.
There's the attraction right there, down the hatch.
(happy music)
Ready to go, the time is finally here.
We're about to get in the water with the stingrays
of Stingray City, let's go.
(water splashes)
Warm Caribbean water is always a welcomed luxury
when diving in this region, but as I regained my bearings,
I quickly spotted a pesky barracuda looking for a free meal.
I will need to keep my eye on this squid thief.
The last thing I want is to have my hand chomped
by its snarled fangs for a tiny piece of bait.
Luckily, most of the fish here that have teeth
mainly hunt by sight,
so as long as there is nothing for them to target,
my hands should be just fine.
To my surprise, the rays were already descending upon us
as we attempted to set our gear and ready ourselves
for the encounters.
No dinner bells required here at Stingray City,
that is for sure.
(happy music)
There were two large females and one smaller male.
As we were warned by the crew,
the males tend to be more aggressive and a little bite-y
so I'm going to have to keep that in mind
when feeding the larger rays.
The little male could come and strike out of nowhere.
Whoa, these rays do not mess around.
They clearly can smell the squid without any trouble,
and man are they quick on the take.
All right, let me focus here
and attempt this a few more times.
(happy tropical music)
As you can see,
Southern Atlantic Stingray have flattened bodies
composed of pectoral fins,
which are joined at their head and trunk
to form a diamond shaped disc,
followed by their infamous tail.
Their color varies from dark brown, gray or black
on the upper side to white on the lower side.
This combination acts as a camouflage
to help the stingray blend in with its environment,
as they like to burrow in the sand to rest
while hiding from predators,
their primary predator being the hammerhead shark.
Remember that dive?
Female Southern Stingray
tend to grow much larger than males.
The average female grows to about six feet in length,
while the average male is around two and a half feet,
which is obviously much smaller, as you can see here.
Okay, let's try to feed the male.
Maybe a little bit of squid
will keep him occupied for awhile.
He's getting a little too riled up for my liking.
(yelps) He almost bit me!
Man, their mouth plates do not feel good.
I could feel them scrape my knuckles right there.
(sighs) All right, I won't be making that mistake twice.
Stingray hunt by using electroreception,
along with a strong sense of smell and touch.
Their diet will typically consist of small fish,
worms and crustaceans.
Since a lot of the stingray's prey is often buried
in the sand, they will either flap their fins over an area,
or utilize a really cool technique
where they will force water streams
from their mouths to reveal the prey
and then slurp them up into their mouths
to be mashed by their powerful plates,
cracking and smashing any hard shells in the process.
Now that's pretty cool if you ask me,
I just don't want it to happen to one of my fingers.
Another cool fact is these stingray have two eyes
that sit atop their head and right behind them,
you'll notice two openings that are called spiracles.
These allow the stingray to breathe
by taking in oxygenated water from above
and expelling it through their gills on their underside.
This is a great way to not breathe in sand or other debris
from the ocean floor while they're hunting.
Okay, now to the business end.
Southern Atlantic Stingray have a whip-like tail,
which as we mentioned earlier,
wields a deadly defense known as a barb.
Stingrays are typically docile creatures
and only use their barbs as a method of self defense,
so the only way for me to get stung right now
is to startle a ray from above
or unintentionally step on one,
and yes, those barbs will go right through my fins,
so I definitely need to be careful,
especially down here on the ocean floor.
All right, that's all the squid.
Time to head back to the boat.
I can't believe it, that was so cool!
(intense music)
Whew!
Oh man (sighs) that was amazing.
So many stingrays down there, and they were big.
Let me get my tank off my back
and I'll tell you all about it.
I did not think the stingrays
were gonna hang out with us for that long,
I thought they would come in, take the bait out of our hand
and then zip right off, but sure enough,
those rays hung out the entire dive,
and we got a lot of great shots,
I know they came up and made a lot of contact.
After what we witnessed today,
it goes without saying stingrays are not an animal
that you need to fear.
If you see one at your local beach,
if you see one at your local dive site,
just give it its safe distance
and you're gonna be just fine.
Well I hope everybody at home enjoyed this episode
as much as we enjoyed making it.
If you haven't yet,
make sure to hit that subscribe button
and the notification bell
so you don't miss a second of the action ahead.
I'm Mark Vins, be brave, stay wild,
we'll see you on the next dive.
(intense music)
You would never want to get this close to stingrays
under any other circumstance.
What we have here at Stingray City
is a very unique situation and it is regulated
by professionals, so please don't attempt to do this
at your local beach.
If you enjoyed getting up close
with the stingrays at Stingray City,
you'll definitely want to check out
our newest members only video at Starfish Point,
where we discover a field of Red Cushioned Sea Stars.
Watch this video now by clicking the join button
on the channel homepage, or by clicking on the link
in the description below.
By becoming a Brave Crew Member, you will gain access
to exclusive wildlife videos and behind the scenes clips
you can't find anywhere else.
(intense music)