Fisherman captures incredible moment 'not often witnessed by people' off Aussie coast

Yahoo

2 days ago

A fisherman has captured the incredible moment a ray appeared to "fly through the air" as it attempted to evade a predator along the Australian coast this week, with millions of people around the world stunned by the tactic.
Brody Sutton was fishing off the coast of Cape York in Queensland last week and pulled out his camera after seeing a hammerhead shark and ray speed through the shallows. As the shark made a beeline towards its prey, the ray leapt out of the water in a stunning display of athleticism, causing the shark to become disorientated and momentarily lose sight of its prey.
Lawrence Chlebeck, a marine biologist from Humane World for Animals, told Yahoo News the ray in question was likely a cownose or mobula ray. Unlike the more commonly known stingray, which stays close to the seafloor, these other species swim through the middle of the ocean and are known to use their "fins like wings".
"What it's doing is breaking the line of vision that the hammerhead has on it, so just by quickly exiting the water, it can break that focus that the shark has, and you can tell the predator loses it shortly after because of it," Lawrence explained.
It's a common tactic deployed by rays, but it's "not often witnessed by people".
"This is definitely something that small fish and rays have the ability to do. This little guy was able to leap up, and it was very effective. All they need to do is get a split second to break the visual connection that the predator has on it," Lawrence said.
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The footage has gone viral within a number of days, with the video reshared in places like the US and the UK. It is unclear whether the ray was able to successfully escape its predator by swimming under the boat, or if the shark got it in the end.
"This is crazy," one person responded online, while another said the jumping ray was "Pokemon level crazy".
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