#big stingray

[nenjinaturefiles]

The biggest stingray I've ever seen. This was the first time I'd visited the Texas State Aquarium with their new Stingray Bay exhibit.

[nenjinaturefiles]

This is an adult female Southern Stingray at the Texas State Aquarium's Stingray Bay. This stingray's name was Big Bertha, and sadly, she passed away around spring last year. They can live as long as 8 years. This stingray's wingspan was about 4 feet and she weighed 110 pounds--that's as heavy as me! When she first came to the aquarium, she was only the size of a dinner plate! Southern Stingrays like to bury themselves in the sand to hide from predators, which makes it easy for people to miss them and step on them, and then get stung. So when you're in the water, do the Stingray Shuffle! When you shuffle your feet in the sand as you walk, it will scare the stingrays away. At Stingray Bay, you can pet the stingrays. All of the stingrays in the exhibit have their barbs cut off, so it's completely safe. Having their barbs cut off is the same as you and me when we clip our fingernails--it doesn't hurt. They will re-grow the barbs, so they make sure to keep them clipped. Big Bertha's fins felt smooth and slimy, and her back felt like slimy sandpaper. There was even a ridge along the middle of her back which felt like a spine, but stingrays have no spine. If the aquarium gets another Southern Stingray, will they try to grow another Big Bertha? Who knows, but I hope so! I had never seen a stingray as big as this one before!

[lesielotta]