A rare albino stingray has been spotted in the Bay of Islands, gliding its way underneath the Russell Wharf.
Dhanya Rose was walking across the wharf just over a week ago on her way to work when she noticed something in the water.
At first, Rose thought it was a rock but as it started moving she thought it was a plastic bag.
She said it was “gliding just below the surface”.
Once Rose began to take a video she realised it was a stingray.
She has seen many stingrays before but never a white one - the moment took her completely by surprise.
Rose said the “special” encounter had given her a new interest in the ghostly creature which she has since researched.
In 2018, a sighting of an albino ray was reported in Australia on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.
The ray also had a missing tail, much like this one by the looks of it. The similarity led Rose to wonder whether it was the very same creature.
Ocean ecologist Glenn Edney said it’s “pretty unlikely” to be the same ray “but there’s still plenty that we don’t know about them, so (we) couldn’t rule it out”.
“I’ve seen three white stingrays in my time, all different animals for certain.”
Edney said true albinos are “extremely rare”, and “albino-looking” stingrays are “certainly rare, but they are not unheard of”.
He explained albinism as a ”genetic misfire”, where the “pigmentation just doesn’t develop in the skin”.
“It’s not common amongst stingrays,” he said.
Edney explained it was likely the stingray had migrated into the harbour because there’s lots of food there.
Stingrays are bottom feeders “quite happy to scavenge around” and eat shellfish.
“That’s the reason you might find them around wharves,” he said.
Male stingrays are generally half the size of females and can be spotted through two protrusions just under their tails.
These ‘claspers’, according to Edney, are the reproductive organs of the male.
There are two common species of stingray in Aotearoa-long tailed (Dasyatis thetidis), and short-tailed (D. brevicaudata).
It is unclear whether the stingray is short-tailed or missing a tail entirely, however, Edney said if the tail is entirely missing that could become an issue for the ray.
“If they get caught in a net, the fishermen chop their tail off,” he explained, “Stingrays are really non-aggressive animals, the barbs are their last resort self defence and if they’re caught on a line or a net that’s a pretty desperate situation for a stingray.”
He said a stingray losing its tail is “not necessarily a fatal thing”.
“What they are losing is their ability to defend themselves, and our New Zealand orca specialise in hunting stingray.”
He explained the barbs on their tails are the “only defence” against an orca.
“In the summertime is when we come across stingrays the most,” said Edney.
While this is because they often come to feed, another reason is females arriving to give birth to live young, after a 12-month gestation period.
The ‘pups’ as they’re called are “perfect miniatures” of the adult sting ray.
As soon as they’re born, Edney said they will “dive down to the bottom where they can get a bit more protection”.