{"id":253863,"date":"2026-01-20T07:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T07:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/253863\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T07:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T07:38:09","slug":"divers-rescue-ray-tangled-in-deadly-fishing-line-once-freed-encircled-them-with-a-thank-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/253863\/","title":{"rendered":"Divers Rescue Ray Tangled in Deadly Fishing Line\u2013Once Freed, Encircled Them with a \u2018Thank you’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"credit \u2013 Andre Smits, via SWNS<\/p>\n

Underwater photographers and free divers recently rescued a mobula ray tangled in a rope while being circled by sharks.<\/p>\n

After swimming away, the injured ray unexpectedly returned, circling the divers in what they described as a \u201cthank you\u201d moment.<\/p>\n

The mobula ray was trapped more than 30 feet below the surface, completely wrapped in rope from a shark fisherman\u2019s buoy.<\/p>\n

Mobulae, also known as flying rays, devil rays, or eagle rays, are smaller than their cousins the giant manta rays, and also far more diverse, with around 12 different extant species and several extinct ones.<\/p>\n

Working in shifts, the team carefully cut away the line and freed the distressed animal while documenting the entire rescue off Baja California, Mexico.<\/p>\n

Underwater photographer Andre Smits was part of the ocean safari group who spotted the ray and helped with the rescue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to one of the shark fishermen\u2019s buoys because we didn\u2019t find any wildlife to interact with that day,\u201d Smits told England\u2019s Southwest News Service. \u201cOur guide jumped in to check the line, popped his head up right away, and said, \u2018guys, I need your help. There\u2019s something stuck in the line.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"credit \u2013 Andre Smits, via SWNS<\/p>\n

The rescue required careful coordination among seven divers, not helped by the three, 8-foot-long silky sharks circling the action not far from them.<\/p>\n

A free-diving trainer that was part of the group descended to cut the rope below the ray, allowing the team to pull the animal closer to the surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was completely entangled. The rope was going around almost every part of the ray,\u201d Smits, based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, said. \u201cThe animal was in freak mode, starting to swim around to try to get free, but then it understood that it was stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team worked together to hold the distressed ray while carefully cutting away the entangling rope with knives, a key piece in every diver\u2019s toolkit.<\/p>\n

MORE OCEAN LIFE ENCOUNTERS:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smits explained that the buoy line, being artificial material, could be like a knife in its own right if one of their team was holding too tightly at the moment the animal tried to flee. With the sharks in their periphery, blood in the water was the last thing any of them wanted, which meant that their rescue efforts had to take place extremely carefully.<\/p>\n

The ray was injured but survived.<\/p>\n

\"\"credit \u2013 Andre Smits, via SWNS<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beautiful thing was we cut her free, we released her, and she swam away about 30 meters and then it felt like she decided to come back,\u201d Smits said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe really swam back to us and did a \u2018thank you\u2019 circle. She came right between us to our faces, almost giving us a grateful hug.\u201d<\/p>\n

SHARE This Close Encounter With Such Beautiful Ocean Life\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"credit \u2013 Andre Smits, via SWNS Underwater photographers and free divers recently rescued a mobula ray tangled in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[5939,844,61,60,1663,2628,14739,64045,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-253863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-fish","9":"tag-fishing","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-marine-life","13":"tag-mexico","14":"tag-oceans","15":"tag-rescue-stories","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}