FW/SW rays that stay small and do not have a stinger

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talal101

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2011
408
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alberta
i was at west edmonton mall a few months ago and hapened to go and check out their aquarium display, i was very surprised to find a pond like tank about 150-300 gallons with 5-6 light gray rays swimming in it. we were allowed to pet the rays and play with them as they had no stinger and were about a foot to a foot and a half around. just wondering what these rays are. im not sure if they were fresh or saltwater though but i know they had no stinger and looked like they had been there for a while. but seing as that was the only time i had ever been there is it possible that they were just young salt water manta rays that they were planning to release into the big aquarium when they grew?
thanks
 
I've heard of people who have clipped / removed stingers on rays, maybe thats what they did?
 
Yeah zoos and aquariums clip the stingers
 
is that humane to clip off stingers?, and wow to think that people are so close to getting stung is kind of a scary thought, i mean can you imagine the swtingers were growing again and they forgot to check and someone got stung. unless you mean they cut off the part of the tail where the stinger grows, because the full tail was still there
 
Clipping the stinger isn't really inhumane if done right, but it is dangerous. When I get rays, I'd rather let them keep their stingers and just be careful rather than purposely pit my hands near the stinger like that
 
Ok I see, so it involves physically pulling the stinger out with your hands. Wow that is really risky but how long will it take for it grow back?
 
talal101 said:
Ok I see, so it involves physically pulling the stinger out with your hands. Wow that is really risky but how long will it take for it grow back?
Click to expand...

I have removed the stingers from SW rays hundreds upon hundreds of times. I used a pair of needlenosed pliers, firmly grap the tip of the barb and pull directly from the tail. The ray can than be released back into the water safely. Alot of fishermen either cut their lines, leaving the hook stuck in its mouth, others cut the wings off and release, or gut and bleed out the ray and either chuck it back or keep it for eating. I hate killing rays so I bring them all the way into the boat to make sure that I can release them in the best possible condition. I will NOT however allow the ray over the side of the boat until the stinger barb is removed. At that point I work on gently removing the hook from the ray and not have to worry about getting hit.

I know that it sound inhumane, but you all really just don't know how dangerous a stingray barb can be. While I hate to see the fishermen that kill the rays they catch I do understand their predicament. You can not believe how painful it is to get a stingrays barb stuck in you. It is F'ing excrusiating! Most fisherman would even consider a stingrays life as worth the risk of getting stung attempting to safely free a hooked ray!

On a side note, the kids make the most awesome necklaces from the stingray stingers that we collected. I am NOT one of those fisherman who feel the need to eradicate the cownose ray from the Chesapeke bay to resotre the shellfish industry. Newsflash! We bought it on ourselves by killing off the large predatory sharks that were thye natrural predator of the cownose ray keeping their numbers in check. Now they have no natural predators on any scale to control their numbers in the ocean now and there is no predator in the Chesapeke bay to keep the Cownose yearly migration into the central bay in check!


 
wow when you put it like that i can see why it is done, and i think it is the right thing to do. i mean its not like your killing the animal your just making sure that people around the ray are safe. do you have any idea how long until the barb grows back?
 
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