A stingray was left stranded in a rock pool on a Welsh beach as the tide went out. The incredible fish was spotted on Ogmore beach in the Vale of Glamorgan by a woman out walking with a friend and her dog.
It appears to be a common stingray which are widespread throughout the world but are only found in any numbers around the south and west of the British Isles.
"It was about 11am in the morning and we went for a walk with the dog on Ogmore," said Rachel Long from Cardiff who took a video of the ray which seem trapped in a small pool about 25m from the sea.
Read more: The mysterious, weird and unexpected things that wash up on Welsh beaches
"It was a really still day, we thought it would be freezing. We were having a really nice time with the dog. We noticed there was a little pool that lots of people were looking in. We assumed it was a jelly fish in there so we put the dog on the lead.
"But it wasn’t a jellyfish, it was a stingray! It was pretty amazing. I hadn’t ever seen one except for in a Sea Life Centre. We watched it for quite a while and then we headed off further down the beach."
On their stroll back the pair, along with their dog Bea, were expecting to see the ray still in the pool. "By the time we came back 10 minutes later it wasn’t there anymore," explained Rachel. "I was saying to my friend Sam that perhaps it is camouflaged or buried under the sand. But then the fisherman told us that it had made its way across the beach back to the sea and had stopped in the pool to revive itself. We also saw a starfish further down the beach. So it was really cool and a very exciting day indeed!"
Stingray live in relatively shallow water up to around fifty or sixty metres deep. They prefer sandy, muddy or light shingle seabeds, although they will be found around rocky or reef outcrops if they are surrounded by clean ground.
According to British Sea Fishing, the range of the common stingray extends from the edges of the Baltic Sea, throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea and along the northern coast of Africa. The common stingray can be solitary or found in small groups. Young stingray are unfussy feeders which will eat all manner of small, bottom-dwelling sea creatures such as crabs, marine worms, shellfish and small lobsters. They will rummage around in the sediment of the seabed to dig out creatures to eat and will also scavenge on any dead and rotting fish they find.
"As the stingray gets older and larger it becomes more of a hunter, preying on both small flatfish and roundfish and moving away from eating crustaceans and invertebrates."
Stingray stings are not generally very harmful though they can very painful. There have been high profile fatalities including the death of Australian "crocodile hunter" Steve Irwin. The NHS recommends to go a minor injuries unit if you do get stung.
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