Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Stingray Migration


Looking like giant leaves floating in the sea, thousands of Golden Rays are seen here gathering off the coast of Mexico . The spectacular scene was captured as the magnificent creatures made one of their biannual mass migrations to more agreeable waters for feeding.
Gliding silently beneath the waves, they turned vast areas of blue water to gold off the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula .

Measuring up to 7ft from wing-tip to wing-tip, Golden rays are also more prosaically known as cow nose rays.

The population in the Gulf of Mexico migrates, in schools of as many as 10,000, clockwise from western Florida to the Yucatan . They migrate twice yearly: north in late spring (as pictured here) and south in late autumn.
A large school of stingrays is called a 'fever'.

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