Video: Fisherman Helps Stingray Give Birth To a Pup

Stock image of a stingray on the beach. Bobgrg/Pixabay

An unusual video showed the moment a fisherman helped a stingray give birth.

The fisherman simply applies a small amount of pressure on the marine animal. Then, a pup suddenly emerged.

“That’s adorable,” says a voice off-screen.

The fisherman, Terry Conger, then throws them both back in the water.

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“Calvin Conger, 18, was about to use the ray as shark bait when he noticed another stinger sticking out of it. His father, Terry Conger, instinctively pushed down on it, and they all watched on as a baby stingray popped out. Calvin’s mother, Valerie Conger, caught the incredible moment on camera, while his girlfriend, Hannah Harris, cooed in the background,” according to Barcroft TV.

Sea Monkeys dive guide Colleen Strayer with an Atlantic stingray at Alligator Reef, Florida. John Christopher Fine, Copyright 2016

It added that Calvin was fishing with his family near Port Charlotte, Florida, when they spotted the ray.

According to National Geographic, “Female stingrays give birth once a year. They usually have two to six young at a time.”

“While a baby stingray is still inside its mother, it grows to be quite large and developed so that when it’s born, it looks like a little adult. From birth, the young stingray is able to fend for itself,” says the website.

Boy Plays With Stingray

Viral footage of a boy playing with a large stingray has gone viral time and time again.

People are captivated by how close the child gets to the large cartilaginous fish.

(For starters, it’s probably not a very good idea as stingrays are known to attack people):

Give Them Space

University of Waikato researcher and PHD student Helen Cadwallader urged people to stay away from stingrays.

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“Stingrays have a spine on their tail that can cause extreme pain and quite a lot of damage, but they won’t ‘attack’,” Cadwalleder told the website. “They don’t go out to chase you down and attack, what they do is entirely self-defense.”

A smooth stingray feeding on discarded snapper carcasses at Schnapper Point, Victoria, Australia. Alpha/Flickr/CC BY-SA-2.0 ept.ms/2utDIe90

“They may, for example, lash out if they get startled or feel threatened, for instance, if someone swims over their back and it doesn’t know they’re there, or if they’re stepped on,” she said.

“The safest thing to do,” she added,  “is give them as much space as you can.”