I miss you Sam!!

I miss you Sam!!
I miss you Sam!!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Stingray Migration

A friend of mine sent me these photos and I thought they were so amazing!

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.

Gliding silently beneath the waves, they turned vast areas of blue water to gold off the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. Sandra Critelli, an amateur photographer, stumbled across the phenomenon while looking for whale sharks.

She said: 'It was an unreal image, very difficult to describe. The surface of the water was covered by warm and different shades of gold and looked like a bed of autumn leaves gently moved by the wind.

'It's hard to say exactly how many there were, but in the range of a few thousand'

Measuring up to 7ft (2.1 meters) from wing-tip to wing-tip, Golden rays are also more prosaically known as cow nose rays.

They have long, pointed pectoral fins that separate into two lobes in front of their high-domed heads and give them a cow-like appearance. Despite having poisonous stingers, they are known to be shy and non-threatening when in large schools.

The population in the Gulf of Mexico migrates, in schools of as many as 10,000, clockwise from western Florida to the Yucatan.

20 comments:

robin andrea said...

That is truly a spectacular sight. I am absolutely bowled over by it. I wish I could see something like that with my own eyes. They are stunning. Thanks for posting these photos, Sylvia.

Susan at Stony River said...

Wow, what photos. People used to go on pilgrimmage back in the middle ages, big crowds going together to holy places for months at a time: imagine what a great road trip it would be. I loved these photos, Sylvia, thank you for sharing them!

Darlene said...

What an amazing photo op. The person who took those photos did an excellent job and we can all enjoy something we will never see in person.

Rain Trueax said...

I got that from a friend also in an email and thought the same thing you did-- wow!

Carol said...

Wow...great photos... I've never seen anything like it... enjoyed reading this..

bobbie said...

Fantastic! That would be a marvelous sight to see!

♥ Pernill@ said...

Absolutely lovely pictures.
Nice interpitation of the letter C.The colours are so beautiful
Greetings from Sweden.

Lilly said...

Gosh how extraordinary. Thanks for the education. I did not know about them at all. I am very interested in migrations of whales though. There is so much to learn isnt there? The sea and its creatures always intrigues me. Thanks for posting this. I love the second picture - you wouldnt guess what they wer either if you didnt know. It would make a great pciture hanging on a wall.

Peggy said...

What a gift your friend sent to you and what a gift you then gave to us! Wow!

Anonymous said...

OMG - this is living Max Escher!!! Incredible!! Thank you for postoing this!!

http://www.mcescher.com/Shopmain/ShopEU/facsilimeprints/prints.html

Joy said...

Wow! That is so neat!!

Neva said...

wow....I am speechless....really....amazing.

Shimmerrings said...

This is awesome... I saw jelly fish like that, once.

magiceye said...

wow this is amazing!

Aisha said...

It is spectacular indeed! Wow! She captured it so well.

Anonymous said...

Wow .. that is a truly spectacular sight! Thank you for posting those pics!

Fida said...

Wow, extraordinary. I didn’t know about them. So thank you for sharing this with us!

Mare said...

Wow, that is amazing...absolutely amazing, Sylvia!

Maithri said...

Absolutely Glorious!

storyteller said...

What an awesome sight!!! I'm glad you shared because I'd not seen this before. I got a chuckle out of the letter (with the garage photo included) from the wife to her returning husband in my reader, but it doesn't seem to be available for comment. I wanted to let you know I left a little something for you at Small Reflections this afternoon.
Hugs and blessings,

What Can I Say?

What Can I Say?
I'm interested in almost everything. Use to like to travel, but it's too expensive now. I take Tai Chi classes, swim, volunteer in a Jump-start program for pre-schoolers. I'm an avid reader and like nearly everyone these days I follow politics avidly. I'm a former teacher and Special Projects Coordinator for a Telecommunications company, Assistant to the President of a Japanese silicon wafer manufacturing company. Am now enjoying retirement -- most of the time. I have two daughters, one son-in-law and two sons scattered all over the country. No grandchildren.

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