Napier Port: Meet Rayleen, the stingray delighting security guards on their night time rounds for 11 months

Security guards at Napier Port are being kept in good company on the night round, forming an unlikely friendship with a stingray named Rayleen.

Formerly known as Raymond due to the challenge of identifying a stingray’s sex at first glance, Rayleen was first sighted 11 months ago and has been living at the port since.

Assistant cruise co-ordinator and part of the access and security team for the Port of Napier, Alex MacGregor, said it was a chance encounter that first introduced him to the friendly ray.

He said he jumped the first time he sighted her in the water, but had grown used to her presence during a particular set of conditions.

Napier Port worker Alex MacGregor said he had never fed the stingray. Photo / Warren Buckland

“You try and pick that time, where it is lower tide and she can get along the bank easier and is more exposed, but you never know when she is going to be out. It’s certainly a treat when you get to see her.

“You naturally gravitate to look down to where she would normally be to catch a glimpse of her, say gidday and continue on your patrol.”

MacGregor was amazed that she co-existed with the working port so well, and always kept one eye on the water to catch a glimpse of her.

He believed the port was a safe place for her to live, and said she had recently been joined by a male stingray, Steve, who was sighted in the breakwater.

“When you go in the reclaimed area you are keeping an eye out to see them. Everyone enjoys a new photo and video of them swimming along.”

The Napier Port does not feed the stingrays, and MacGregor said he liked to observe the animal but “let it be and enjoy its life”.

MacGregor said there were often wildlife sightings at the port and he had seen penguins, and seals previously.

“You get used to them quickly and they may not be pets but they sort of become part of the port.”

General manager of the National Aquarium, Rachel Haydon, said it was unusual for stingrays to hang around humans, but not uncommon for them to gravitate to areas like the port.

“Stingrays can live in bays, estuaries, and near rocky reefs, so it is by chance that these structures are built in these areas where they naturally occur.

“Ports, piers, and jetties can provide great places to see them when the water visibility allows you to do so.”

Haydon said those looking to identify the sex of stingrays would need a glimpse of their pelvic fins.

“Males have two external appendages known as claspers – but you need to be looking underneath the ray to see these. From the top, males and females look too similar to tell.”

MacGregor said he hoped to continue to see Rayleen through winter, and hoped she and Steve might get along.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.