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:
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.
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!
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.
I got that from a friend also in an email and thought the same thing you did-- wow!
Wow...great photos... I've never seen anything like it... enjoyed reading this..
Fantastic! That would be a marvelous sight to see!
Absolutely lovely pictures.
Nice interpitation of the letter C.The colours are so beautiful
Greetings from Sweden.
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.
What a gift your friend sent to you and what a gift you then gave to us! Wow!
OMG - this is living Max Escher!!! Incredible!! Thank you for postoing this!!
http://www.mcescher.com/Shopmain/ShopEU/facsilimeprints/prints.html
Wow! That is so neat!!
wow....I am speechless....really....amazing.
This is awesome... I saw jelly fish like that, once.
wow this is amazing!
It is spectacular indeed! Wow! She captured it so well.
Wow .. that is a truly spectacular sight! Thank you for posting those pics!
Wow, extraordinary. I didn’t know about them. So thank you for sharing this with us!
Wow, that is amazing...absolutely amazing, Sylvia!
Absolutely Glorious!
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,
Post a Comment