Rays

[immac]

Rays - Youtube

Out on the boat Saturday morning and came across a shoal (not sure of collective noun) of Rays in Gulf of Fethiye. At least 6, but probably more. "Wing" span over 2 mtrs. Gliding just under the surface seemingly feeding in the sunlit water. At first, from a distance, looked like fins of dolphins breaking the surface, but these were the wing tips. Got right over them as they swam under the boat. Stayed with them for 15 minutes.

Not sure of type, but black bar across the head and dark body with long tails and extensions each side of the mouth.

Is this common behaviour? What type of Ray is this?

Ian

 

[ExG]

Very nice.

The collective name for a group of rays is school.

Without seeing a photo it's very hard to say what species they were.

You could try typing Myliobatidae into the images on google and see if you can spot the ones you saw.

Wish I'd been there
Eliot

 

[immac]

Possibly Reef Manta. But not clear they are in the Mediterranean.

Ian

 

[v6cod]

Hi I think you saw a Giant Devil Ray/Mobula Ray

IUCN Species of the Day: Giant Devilray - Bush Warriors

They are Manta like in appearance but present in the Mediterranean. Also an endangered species so it was a very good spot for you.

Wish I had seen them :boohoo:

 

[immac]

Yes, that seems to be it. We captured it on 6 minutes of video.

Ian

 

[v6cod]

Would love to see it, is it possible to put it on Youtube then post the link here

Thanks

 

[Foxes Glove]

Torpedo are found about the med.

 

[Akasya]

A shame that a grouping of Rays was not defined as a " Beam ", or a " Rainbow "

Steve.

 

[evo80]

i wonder if that was the type that killed that Aussie croc man Steve Irwin ?

 

[immac]

Here is the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEP5eB2-Dxc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[SonnyJim]

Thats amazing, thanks very much for posting the video.

We have sailed around the Turkish coast line for many years and never had a sighting of these:19:

Well done!

 

[Foxes Glove]

Not torpedo. Thanks for the share.

 

[saffie]

Oh WOW!!! How lucky to have seen these beautiful rays.

Thank you so much for sharing the video.........I've sent it to all my friends!!

Stunning.

saffie

 

[stuart]

fantastic ....you are very lucky, have been fishing out of fethiye for many years now but never seen anything like that.

 

[ExG]

What an amazing video.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEP5eB2-Dxc]Giant rays in Fethiye bay - YouTube[/ame]

Thanks for sharing it with everyone

Eliot

 

[teosgirl]

Beautiful, lucky you.

We have a local dive site called rayville, but unfortunately there aren't many/any rays there nowadays. I've never seen one in it's natural habitat - so jealous!

Thanks for sharing,

Charlotte

 

[partypixie]

Wow - that must have been incredible to see

 

[Harem]

Brilliant Ian.

 

[Brendab]

Hi guys,
Showed this post to my husband who commented

"The ray that killed Irwin was a sting ray and he was aggrevated. From my knowledge as a diver they look to me like juvenile Mantas, which are plankton eaters so no danger, they are feeding off the plankton bloom, little is known re the breeding / migration of theses majestic beasts so who knows , have seen them many times but not in med so could be wrong"

Regards
Brenda

 

[Ann Wills]

That was amazing, thank you so much for sharing Immac.