So a biologist is trying to catch one... Is he planning on a catch & release, or is he going to study them? Those damn things have a tendency to swallow the hook deep enough to do serious damage.

Paging Dr. Darwin... Dr. Darwin, you have a call on the white phone.

I'd say something went right for this feller. Kinda. He would have preferred to catch a bigger one.

Awesome headline! Made me laugh out loud. (No, I won't type the acronym.)

First? No way!

Steve Irwin's blood is making the stingrays stronger!

What is it with the Daily Mail and their abnormal obsession with that freak Victoria Beckham? Every time I see a Fark story linking to Daily Mail I'm guaranteed a side story about her/it.

World's largest stingray:

/sorry

MOpalak: First? No way!

FAIL. Get that shiat out of here, no one thinks you're cool even if you do manage to soil a pristine thread.

That ray was pretty cool, but what do you learn by just catching the damn thing besides the anatomy and playi8ng a small part in threatening the species viability. Compare this to PBS Nature's documentation of the Humboldt squid off of Baja California. The Giant Red Devil squid could eviscerate a cow in 30 seconds. Mexican fishermen are terrified by them because the squid's glowing skin have lured them to look overboard only to be snatched out of the boat, drowned and devoured. (Rick Astley would never do that.) NATURE | ENCOUNTERING SEA MONSTERS
/The diver's colleagues demanded he film this footage from a shark cage.

Subby: Man goes on mission to catch the world's biggest stingrays. What could possibly go... CRIKEY

Too soon, man.. too soon.

On the many occasions I have come across stingrays while diving I found them to be gentle, generally docile animals that would rather get out of your way than confront you... They sure can be hard to reel in if you catch one on your fishing line though. They often go directly to the bottom and sing themselves in (making a dead line, like you have hooked a giant rock). Trick is to pull the line taught and then strum it like a guitar string, this seems to irritate them enough to briefly leave the bottom at which time you can reel them in. We use to call the wings "poor man's lobster" as the meat is somewhat similar.

Steve (Crikey) Irwin must have REALLY been pissing that stingray off to get one to sting him.

RyanWillia: That ray was pretty cool, but what do you learn by just catching the damn thing besides the anatomy and playi8ng a small part in threatening the species viability. Compare this to PBS Nature's documentation of the Humboldt squid off of Baja California. The Giant Red Devil squid could eviscerate a cow in 30 seconds. Mexican fishermen are terrified by them because the squid's glowing skin have lured them to look overboard only to be snatched out of the boat, drowned and devoured. (Rick Astley would never do that.) NATURE | ENCOUNTERING SEA MONSTERS
/The diver's colleagues demanded he film this footage from a shark cage.

Well, this guy in particular is part of a bigger project documenting the largest freshwater fish in the world. The article doesn't mention it, but he tags them, sometime telemetrically, and can trace their movement to see where they live. In reality though, morphometric and tagging studies like this are the first step in learning about any animal.Detailed anatomical, physiological or behavioral studies are a long way down the line.

In short, he's documenting them to prove they exist and to see if they are doing ok population wise.

It's no manta, but stingrays are still pretty cool.

Alleyoop

That's so wrong, but so funny.

Wulfhardt: It's no manta, but stingrays are still pretty cool.

technically, mantas are stingrays.

/batoid biologist

Wulfhardt: It's no manta, but stingrays are still pretty cool.

??

Slartibartfaster: On the many occasions I have come across stingrays while diving I found them to be gentle, generally docile animals that would rather get out of your way than confront you... They sure can be hard to reel in if you catch one on your fishing line though. They often go directly to the bottom and sing themselves in (making a dead line, like you have hooked a giant rock). Trick is to pull the line taught and then strum it like a guitar string, this seems to irritate them enough to briefly leave the bottom at which time you can reel them in. We use to call the wings "poor man's lobster" as the meat is somewhat similar.

Steve (Crikey) Irwin must have REALLY been pissing that stingray off to get one to sting him.

From what I heard, he swam over it when it was hidden, and startled it. He didn't even know the thing was there.

yes, that Stingray sure is hard to catch...

LordJiro: Slartibartfaster: On the many occasions I have come across stingrays while diving I found them to be gentle, generally docile animals that would rather get out of your way than confront you... They sure can be hard to reel in if you catch one on your fishing line though. They often go directly to the bottom and sing themselves in (making a dead line, like you have hooked a giant rock). Trick is to pull the line taught and then strum it like a guitar string, this seems to irritate them enough to briefly leave the bottom at which time you can reel them in. We use to call the wings "poor man's lobster" as the meat is somewhat similar.

Steve (Crikey) Irwin must have REALLY been pissing that stingray off to get one to sting him.

From what I heard, he swam over it when it was hidden, and startled it. He didn't even know the thing was there.

I always thought the story was that the cameraman spooked it and it turned and hit Steve. They were looking at it IIRC.

We'll probably never know. They'll never release the footage. Even though he would have wanted them too (I believe he made a specific request to that effect). I felt little at his death, but then I caught an episode (I was not really a fan) where he buys a snake back from snake charmers to release in the wild (before it was defanged). He was a good guy.

Whats scary is that there are other species of big ass weird fish in the Mekong... they have a massive catfish species in that river as well.

I'm still depressed about Steve Irwin.

Ditto Peter Wimsey

He was awesome...

TEH HAWT!!!

/FHEP

I was sad at first thinking they had killed such a magnificent animal. I was happy to read their catches where caugth and released.

caperbear:

As a kid in the 60's, I would rush home from school to watch this and all the other "marionette" shows on TV. Thanks for the memory.

UontaG: TEH HAWT!!!

/FHEP

agreed.