Swimming with the stingrays

Reporter David Eames gets up close and personal with a stingray at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World. Picture / Greg Bowker

For people who prefer their seafood swimming in a marinara sauce, the prospect of frolicking with Phoebe could be daunting.

Phoebe is a 40-something, 220kg stingray who, with her three offspring, makes her home in a large tank at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in Auckland.

The aquarium, which opened in 1985, intends allowing people into the waist-deep tank from May 1, giving them the chance to play with the stingrays.

Yesterday, the Herald was invited to do just that.

"A stingray is effectively a flat shark," says Kelly Tarlton operations manager Andrew Baker.

As if the 30cm serrated barb on the top of a stingray's tail is not frightening enough, it also contains a toxin, and a flesh-eating bacteria.

And although stingrays lack teeth, they have a bone-like plate and can administer a rather vigorous gumming - a love bite from the deep.

Rays have no sense of smell, but they can sense fear via electro-sensors.

Mr Baker says opening the tank will let visitors "get closer to the marine environment".

"It really makes you feel part of it. We want to highlight these creatures that live all round New Zealand."

Once in the tank, and clutching a fistful of fish nibbles, Mr Baker soon has Phoebe and the offspring in thrall.

The creatures perform an ooze-slither across him to reach the tasty squid morsels.

The thought of having a giant fish sucking up against you would frighten many people, but Mr Baker says the creatures are merely inquisitive, and motivated by appetite.

Up close, and in her own domain, Phoebe seems to have a personality of her own.

She's a bit like a slimy but affectionate puppy - only heavier.

There will be ground rules for the public's forays into the stingrays' world, but as long as humans do not stand on, hassle or startle them, they can be enchanting, graceful and captivating creatures.

In addition to the Stingray Splash, Kelly Tarlton's plans to offer a shark dive this year.

Potentially lethal

* Can a stingray kill you?

A stingray attack could be fatal if you are struck in a vital organ. Luckily, stingrays are not naturally aggressive.

* Do attacks happen often?

Attacks by stingrays in New Zealand waters are rare but happen when rays are stepped on in shallow water, cornered or surprised.

* What are the effects?

The animal's barbed tail contains, apart from knife-like serrations, a nerve toxin that can cause paralysis and nerve decay, and flesh-eating bacteria.