Stingrays are all over the beaches.  This species of fish are a rounded shape with a small, long tail, with a sharp barb attached at the base of the tail.  This fish camoflauges into its environment to hide from predators.  Its defense against predators is the sharp barb attached at the base of the tail.  If you step on these fish, they use their barb and tail to defend themselves.

They can be difficult to see when they are buried in the sand.  Often, the only parts you can see are the eyes and the tail.  If you look closely you can see the outline of the fish.  The tail is the most easily identified feature.  Seagrass that can be found on the beaches on high tides looks a lot like the stingray’s tail, and the two can be hard to distinguish between.

The stingray shuffle is a way to scare away stingrays.  When you are walking out to surf, drag your feet along the bottom.  Stingrays, like every other fish species, can feel vibrations in the water.  They feel vibrations on the bottom.  They will hear you coming and take off.  However, even while dragging your feet along the bottom, many stingrays don’t notice you until your foot is a foot or less away.  So, it’s also a good idea to move slowly out into the water.  This is especially so on calm days.

Fortunatly, stingrays most often sit right at the edge of the water, where the water meets the sand, often in the drop off where waves once were.  But, when the waves are breaking in that drop-off the fish disappear into deeper water.

These fish are far more prevalent during the Spring and Summer months.  You should be much less concerned about this species when the waves are breaking, but know they exist and be weary of them.