{"id":326795,"date":"2026-03-03T14:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/326795\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T14:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:40:10","slug":"something-wasnt-right-diver-films-giant-stingray-emerging-from-seabed-with-part-of-its-body-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/326795\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Something wasn&#8217;t right.&#8221; Diver films giant stingray emerging from seabed with part of its body missing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gliding along the shallow coral reef, we thought we were prepared for anything. <\/p>\n<p>During our previous scuba dives in the world-famous Raja Ampat, we\u2019d already watched huge\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/sea-turtle-types\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">green turtles<\/a>\u00a0soar past, been surprised by blacktip reef\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/fish\/shark-facts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sharks<\/a> darting into view, and waited patiently for a timid\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/squid-vs-octopus\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">octopus<\/a>\u00a0to peer out of its shell-strewn\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/giant-pacific-octopus-facts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">midden<\/a>\u00a0to say hello.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But I certainly wasn\u2019t expecting to see this.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Raja Ampat in Indonesia is world-famous for its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/holidays-days-out\/best-wildlife-snorkelling-and-diving-sites-in-the-world\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">scuba diving<\/a>. Designated as a UNESCO biosphere reserve in September\u00a02025, the archipelago has some of the most diverse marine life on the planet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are more than 1,600 [species of] fishes identified within Raja Ampat,&#8221; says Yeray Moreno, head of experience and conservation at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rascalvoyages.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rascal Voyages<\/a>\u00a0and my dive guide during my trip. &#8220;You can see more than 700 on a single dive site.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The ray\u2019s huge round body was so well camouflaged in the sand that it took a few more fin kicks before we recognised the enormous\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/fish\/stingray-facts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">stingray<\/a>\u00a0nestled in the seabed right in front of us.<\/p>\n<p>Rippling its sides, the animal shifted then slowly took off from the seabed, sand pouring off the ridges of its body as it swam away.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But something wasn\u2019t right. As the stingray flew past, I got a close look at the stump at the back of its body, like a dog with a docked tail.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Stingray with no tail filmed in Raja Ampat. Credit: Melissa Hobson | Rascal Voyages <\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, when fishers accidentally catch a stingray, they cut its barb off before throwing it back in the water to prevent the chance of getting stung if they encounter the same individual again, Moreno explains: \u201cIt\u2019s very unlikely that was natural.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s not threatening most of the time, but it does take away any possible defence from predators,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>So far, this large ray had thrived despite its injury \u2013 hopefully, it will live out many more days in the stunning reefs of Raja Ampat.<\/p>\n<p>Melissa Hobson travelled courtesy of Rascal\u00a0Voyages | Top image credit: Melissa Hobson | Rascal Voyages. <\/p>\n<p>More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gliding along the shallow coral reef, we thought we were prepared for anything. During our previous scuba dives&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-326795","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326795","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=326795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}