THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9406300219
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 157 lines
JERRY HARRIS SCOOPED his hand through the water of the huge tank filled with stingrays at the Virginia Marine Science Museum, recoiling slightly when a slimy ray brushed up against his palm.
His 11-year-old son, Brian, was more tentative, barely dangling his fingers into the tank. Looking to the left, a curious ray glided in from the right catching him by surprise. He jumped and drew his hand in close to his side.
``It scared me,'' Brian said. ``I didn't see that one.''
After a few encounters, both father and son grew comfortable with their new finned friends.
Yet, only the night before, they were on the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier running at the sight of a stingray at the end of a fisherman's pole.
``You better believe I was running,'' said Jerry Harris, of Richmond. ``I was told they would swing around and slash you and cut you wide open.''
However, their outing to the museum's new ``Hooray for Rays'' exhibit helped dispel the mystery and myths surrounding the stingray.
Rays evoke fear and trepidation, largely because of their venomous stingers and their capability of growing 22 feet across like the manta ray.
But rays are actually gentle creatures that only use their tails and spines (a hard, sharp protrusion near the base of the tail more commonly known as stingers) as weapons when threatened. Typically, rays react when they're attacked from the top, such as when someone steps on them while wading into the ocean.
``It's a defensive weapon,'' said W. Mark Swingle, assistant curator. ``They don't try to hurt with it. But if it's attacked from the top, it will whip its spine up with its tail and lash out.''
Swingle said it's rare to be stung by a ray because they usually don't hang around the same areas as bathers. Typically, the flat, disc-shaped fish hover along the ocean bottom around shellfish beds to feed. Because they are bottom feeders, when someone is stung, it's usually around the ankles or legs.
So it's a good idea to shuffle your feet when wading into the water, Swingle said. That way you avoid stepping on one and you give the ray a chance to move out of the way.
Despite their non-aggressive nature, the 16 rays in the museum's 5,000-gallon tank have had their spines clipped.
With a small flick of their wing-shaped fins, the rays glide gracefully around the tank, often hugging the sides of the tank as if they are beckoning to visitors to touch.
``They are such happy-go-lucky, curious animals,'' said Lyman Smith, a museum spokeswoman. ``And they are so cute to play with.''
Developed as a temporary exhibit, the rays tank has proven to be so popular that the museum staff is considering making it permanent.
``People come in here and sit an hour, an hour and a half and watch and watch,'' Smith said. ``Both children and adults are fascinated.''
Kirsten, 5, and Brooke, 2, Kube had to be dragged away from the ray tank by their mom.
``Mommy, did you pet one?'' Kirsten shouted excitedly. ``I petted two. The two white ones are the friendly ones.
``Look, here he comes. I touched the corner of that one. It feels like a snake.''
Their mother, Cindy Kube, said she brings her girls to the museum often and is particularly impressed by the rays exhibit. ``Any time kids get to see it and hear it and touch it, it makes it more real for them,'' said Kube. ``And they don't ever forget it.''
Sarah Rose-Jensen, 13, who lives near the Chesapeake Bay, has seen rays from a distance but never close up. ``I thought they'd be rough like a fish, but they're soft,'' she said. ``They're neat.''
The exhibit features a variety of species of rays that are found in Virginia waters. Not all rays are stingrays, although the majority do have stinging spines.
Local rays range in size from 2 feet across like the Atlantic stingray to 22 feet across like the manta ray. Manta rays are found 10 to 20 miles off shore in Virginia and are pretty harmless. Divers have been known to grab on and ride them.
``The largest members of animal groups tend to be the least dangerous,'' Swingle said.
The most common is the cow nose ray. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science estimated in 1988 from aerial photographs that 7 million cownose rays live around the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
Locally, there's one species of sawfish which is a member of the ray family. The sawfish uses his saw to slash at fish before eating them.
Torpedo rays, which are in the electric ray family, are sometimes found in Virginia. They have no spines but can deliver an electric shock of up to 220 volts.
Skates, also members of the ray family, are plentiful in Virginia. Skates have spines but they are not poisonous and do not sting.
Aside from their stingers and mottled color, the primary difference between rays and skates is their method of reproduction. Rays lay their eggs inside their bodies, hatch them inside their bodies, then extrude them.
Skates, however, lay egg casings, which are commonly known as mermaids purses. After the embryo hatches, these mermaids purses (black rectangular pouches with a tentacle at each corner) are often found washed up on our beaches.
As part of the exhibit, skate embryos have been removed from the casings and allowed to develop and grow in a special holding tank. Visitors can observe three stages of development of the embryo prior to hatching, beginning at four weeks of age.
Three ray activities have been especially popular with the children. One is a computer game with educational activities about rays, which has been called RayTV.
Another is two fun house mirrors demonstrating the difference between the shapes of fish. One mirror depresses, or horizontally flattens making you look short and wide, like the ray. The other compresses, or vertically flattens making you tall and thin, like most other fish.
A third is the daily feeding at noon when a staff member climbs into the tank in a wet suit and hand feeds the rays with shrimp, scallops, mussels and clams.
While non-traditional, rays are an edible resource. The Marine Seafood Products Board even puts out a booklet with a number of ray recipes.
Even the legendary Capt. John Smith has eaten one. As the story goes, Smith's boat went aground at what is now known as Stingray Point, Virginia, in 1607. There, Smith used his sword to fish and speared a stingray.
But the ray stung his arm and it swelled so much that Smith feared he would die. So he chose his burial place on the shore and named it Stingray Point. But the ship's doctor treated Smith and nursed him back to health. Then Smith cooked the ray and ate it for supper.
``This exhibit is something you shouldn't miss,'' said Lyman Smith, who is no relation to John Smith and has never eaten a ray. ``We rarely have the chance to get this close up to a stingray.'' MEMO: The Virginia Marine Science Museum, 717 General Booth Blvd., is open 9
a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Admission is $4.75 for adults, $4.25 for seniors, $4 for children 4 to
12 and under 4 no charge. For information, call 437-4949.
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
HOORAY FOR RAYS
[Color] Staff photos by CHARLIE MEADS
Two rays, part of the new ``Hooray for Rays'' exhibit, drift along
the bottom of their tank at the Virginia Marine Science Museum.
Five-year-old Kirsten Kube of Virginia Beach reaches into the water
to touch one of the inhabitants of the ray tank at the Virginia
Marine Science Museum.
Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Visitors - some braver than others - test the waters so that the
rays can come up and rub their hands at the museum's new exhibit.
One ray activity popular with the children is the daily feeding at
noon when a staff member climbs into the tank in a wet suit and hand
feeds the rays with shrimp, scallops, mussels and clams.
Developed as a temporary exhibit, the rays tank has proven to be so
popular that the museum staff is considering making it permanent.
ABOVE: Mark Swingle, who is in charge of the rays exhibit, says it
is rare to be stung by a ray because they usually don't hang around
the same areas as bathers. LEFT: Manigeh Dickinson of Arizona, left,
and Victoria Berryhill of the Eastern Shore get a close look at
skate embryos.
by CNB