Whether it’s on TV, or at your local aquarium, you’ve probably seen a fair few stingrays in your time. But, and we’re hazarding a guess here, we doubt you’ve ever seen a stingray quite like the one that’s just been caught off the coast of Peru.
26 feet in length, and weighing an incredible 1.1 tonnes, fishermen found this beast in waters near the border with Ecuador on Saturday (April the 18th). Of course, Mpora weren’t there when this incredible discovery was made, but we imagine the reaction of the men who spotted it initially went something like this:
“Hang on. Is that stealth bomber submerged in the water?”
*takes fishing boat in for a closer look, sees giant stingray*
“SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…”
*gasps for air*
“…IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTT!”
The area where this gargantuan stingray was found is approximately 795 miles to the north of the country’s capital, Lima. Due the sheer size of the creature, the ray had to be transported away from the beach on a tow truck.
IMARPE, Peru’s authority on all-things marine based, have apparently made contact with the group of fishermen for information on their find. Giant stingrays, like this one, are an endangered animal according to the International Union for the Conversation of Nature.
It would seem, then, that these Peruvian fishermen could be in a bit of trouble. There is a chance, of course, that this was all an innocent mistake and they didn’t know the creature was endangered. On the other hand, if they did know it was endangered and killed it anyway; we will have to wag our judgemental finger in their direction.
Don’t kill endangered animals, dudes. It’s not cool.
In other news, does anyone else remember the TV show Stingray? Now that was a programme with a proper theme tune, arguably the best one ever.
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