Eagle Ray jumps in boat

Thought this was neat. I think the ray in the pic is very nice looking.

Massive ray slams woman on boat in Florida Keys - CNN.com

 

Wow, the pattern on the ray is beautiful.

 

I saw that one too and got a chuckle (after I found out the woman was OK!!!)

That would surely throw me for a loop - a 300lb ray flying at my face!

I'd be thinking "please don't let me die like Steve Irwin!!!!"

 

They can. Considering I used to chase one every morning around an aquarium to give it a shot, it's not something they do often.

BTW, the reason they leave the water is to remove parasites on their undersides when they slap back down on the surface.

 

It surprised me when the article mentioned how hard they hit the water; I assumed (my bad) they'd go back in much like a conehead (remember that movie?).

That makes sense. Do they not get parasites so much on their uppersides?

 

I would ASSUME they do but aren't as able to handle those as much as a dolphin that can easily spin upside-down before hitting the water. Again, I'm ASSUMING here. I suspect that some of dolphin's "play" behavior is serving a similar purpose.

 

Woah... yeah the coloration on that thing is unreal.

 

I thought they jumped as part of mating.

 

Possibly. There are number of studies describing this behavior. There's also studies showing the parasite link. It's possibly both. Officer Vickers isn't a marine biologist.