Stingray behavior?

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911Diver

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Location
PA
# of dives
50 - 99
I was in Corolla, NC (Outer Banks) over the past week and saw something that I have never seen before. I live in PA now, but lived in Fla for a large portion of my life and cant believe that I have never seen this before.

I saw stingrays jumping out of the water a good couple feet. Some were doing it through the waves and others were just jumping out during the calmer days.

Is this playful behavior?
Are they escaping predators?
Feeding?

Any info is appreciated, I will try to do a google search on this, but thought I would raise the question here as well.

Thanks,

Dan
 
I think it is done to dislodge parasites. I've never seen stingrays do it, but I've seen eagle rays, cow rays and manta rays do it lots.

I found an article from a google search that said this as well. That they have never seen actual stingrays do this, but many people identify all rays as "stingrays" and this seems to be where the confusion is.

Here is the article:
Ocean Watch: Stingrays jump for joy | starbulletin.com | News | /2008/05/23/

I have never heard of this News source before and have no idea of its creditablity. So I will assume it is creditable until I hear other wise...

Thanks
 
I was in Rodanthe, NC a week or so ago and saw this same thing. My friend actually saw one right by his feet in about 4 ft of water.
 
I think it is done to dislodge parasites. I've never seen stingrays do it, but I've seen eagle rays, cow rays and manta rays do it lots.

It's common to see eagle rays jumping down here. I've also heard it's to get away from remoras that are tagging along with them. They are a pest. I've tried to ooosh them away with my hand while swimming with no shirt or wetsuit and they come back and start nipping at me.
 
On a sad note, there are infrequent occurrences where rays have jumped clear out of the water and have landed in boats, and one even landed on a passenger in a boat and the impact killed her.
 
I found an article from a google search that said this as well. That they have never seen actual stingrays do this, but many people identify all rays as "stingrays" and this seems to be where the confusion is.
Thanks

As far as I know, all rays are stingrays. If the ray has no stinger or barb, it's not a ray but a skate.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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