Are Stingrays Dangerous? How Stingray Barbs Work

How does a stingray barb work?

A stingray’s weapon is a stiff spine on the upper side of the tail, often called the barb or stinger. It is a modified scale made of a hard, bone-like material called vasodentin. Its edges are lined with rows of backward-pointing serrations, like a saw blade, which make it easy to drive in but hard to pull out. Many species have one spine, and some have two or three.

The spine is wrapped in a thin sheath of skin. Along its underside run two grooves packed with venom-producing cells. When the barb enters flesh, the sheath tears and venom mixes into the wound. Stingray venom contains proteins that cause severe pain, swelling and damage to tissue.

The barb is a reflex defense, not a hunting tool. When something presses down on a ray’s back, the ray whips its tail up and forward, driving the spine into whatever is pinning it. Stingrays regularly shed their spines and grow new ones, and a ray may briefly carry a replacement spine beside the old one.

How common are stingray injuries?

Stingray stings are among the most frequent injuries caused by any venomous fish. Medical reviews estimate roughly 1,500–2,000 stingray injuries a year in the United States alone, mostly in summer and mostly on the feet and ankles of people wading in shallow water.

Some beaches are hot spots. In southern California, the small round stingray (Urobatis halleri) gathers in warm, shallow water near shore and stings hundreds of beachgoers every year; Seal Beach is the best-known hot spot. A study of nearly 400 people stung there between 2012 and 2016 found that three-quarters were hit on the foot. Along the Gulf of Mexico and the southeastern Atlantic coast, the Atlantic stingray and the southern stingray are among the species most often involved.

In Europe, the common stingray (Dasyatis pastinaca) lives in the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic as far north as British waters, and it occasionally stings waders on sandy beaches in summer.

What happens when a stingray stings you?

The first and strongest symptom is pain. It starts at once, is often described as far worse than the size of the wound suggests, and is usually most severe for the first 30–60 minutes. It can spread up the leg and may last for a day or two. The wound may bleed for a long time, and the area around it often swells.

Some people also feel sick, weak or dizzy, sweat, or have muscle cramps. Puncture wounds can carry sand and bacteria deep into the skin, so infection is a common later problem. In the Seal Beach study, most people’s pain had gone or improved within a week, and none needed to be admitted to hospital.

Stingray barbs do not always break off. In a review of 119 cases at a San Diego emergency department, no pieces of spine were found left in any of the wounds, although fragments are sometimes left behind by larger rays.

If someone is stung, get them out of the water and seek emergency medical help immediately: call 911 in the US, 112 in the EU or 999 in the UK.

Can a stingray kill you?

Deaths from stingrays are extremely rare. Most of the few recorded deaths involved large rays whose barbs pierced the chest or abdomen, causing severe bleeding or damage to the heart or other organs.

The best-known case is the death of Australian wildlife presenter Steve Irwin, who was struck in the chest by a large stingray while filming on the Great Barrier Reef in 2006. It was only the second recorded stingray death in Australian waters since 1945. Swimming directly above a large ray can make it feel trapped, which is why divers are advised to give big rays plenty of room.

Which stingrays are the most dangerous?

The danger depends mostly on the size of the ray and where the barb strikes.

Freshwater river stingrays of the Amazon and other South American rivers have venom glands that spread over more of the spine, and their stings are often more serious than those of marine species.

How can you avoid being stung?

The simplest protection is the stingray shuffle: sliding your feet along the bottom instead of taking normal steps in shallow, sandy water. The vibration warns buried rays, and a foot that bumps a ray from the side does not trigger the tail strike the way a step on its back does. The technique is explained in what is the stingray shuffle?

Other good habits are to watch where you walk in clear water, heed lifeguard warnings about rays, never grab or corner a stingray, and avoid swimming close above a large ray resting on the bottom. At ray-feeding sites, follow the guides’ instructions.

Are manta rays dangerous too?

No. Manta rays are related to stingrays, but they have no working barb and eat plankton. The giant manta has only a tiny, harmless knob at the base of its tail. The reasons are explained in are manta rays dangerous?