Diving the Kona Coast: ray

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Aetobatus narinari at Honaunau

For months I have been following the progress of a young Spotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus narinari) which has made Honaunau Bay its home. However, while taking these photographs, I saw another ray of similar size nearby. The presence of two rays instead of one certainly accounts for the frequency of sightings which have become almost routine for SCUBA and freedivers in the bay.

All these photos are of the same individual, the other ray staying out of range. This oneis growing up nicely but still not full-sized.

As graceful as the fish are when swimming, they still have to eat. And when they do, it's anything but graceful, diving headfirst into the sand and creating a dust storm as they search for mollusks and crustaceans.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Baby Eagle Ray at Honaunau

These are some recent photos of a juvenile Spotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus narinari) that has been frequenting Honaunau Bay for the last several weeks. This first photo was taken late last month when I was on a solo dive.

Betty and I saw it again two weeks ago. We were on our second dive of the day when we saw it out in the distance. We were pre-occupied with looking for the male Whitley's Boxfish we had seen in the area on our earlier dive. As a result we mostly ignored the ray. A few minutes later it came up right alongside us and started digging in the sand for food.

The ray stayed nearby for around two minutes before winging away. It was a pleasant little encounter affording us a nice look and the "baby".