A man was almost struck by the barb of a whitespotted eagle ray he was trying to rescue from a jetty in Mackay Harbour in Queensland. <\/p>\n
Sage River Jefferys was relaxing on his boat with a friend when he heard a \u201cstrange sound of flapping\u201d coming from another part of the jetty.<\/p>\n
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Jeffreys said the ray had launched itself out of the water and onto a \u201cboiling hot deck in the peak of the Australian summer\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was freak of the moment luck that I had my GoPro handy right,\u201d he told Storyful. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m also very grateful not to have gotten hurt or injured by this animal in distress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Video captures Jeffreys sprint towards the cartilaginous fish before he uses a buoy to push it off the jetty and into the water below. <\/p>\n
The clip also shows Jeffreys and his friend spot the barb ejected by the eagle ray \u2013 both of them appearing shocked. <\/p>\n
\u201cDid it try shoot me? It tried to shoot me, aye? That\u2019s the deadly barb,\u201d Jeffreys can be heard saying with a stunned look on his face. <\/p>\n
Whitespotted eagle rays have been recorded in Queensland, New South Wales, and Western Australia, and are classified a venomous species.<\/p>\n