white stingray

[Chlidonias]

a white stingray has gone on display at the Mapua aquarium near Nelson. It was actually caught quite a while ago, but I was waiting till there was a press release about it before posting. There is a video on the link, worth watching
Rare white stingray gifted to Mapua Aquarium in Nelson | NATIONAL News

A small aquarium in Nelson has got its hands on a rare white short-tailed stingray and they think it might be one of the only ones in captivity in the world.

The stingray, known as Nookie, was found by a local fisherman just before Christmas and gifted to the Mapua Aquarium in Nelson.

While grey stingrays are nothing unusual, Nookie is different.

"It's a genetic thing, where you get what they call a melanistic form. This is where the dark colours kind of get dropped out and so every so often you will get something which is particularly light," says Richard de Hamel, Mapua Touch the Sea Aquarium.

The aquarium think that she could be one of the only ones in captivity in the world.

Fisherman George Marsh has been fishing for 70 odd years when he came across Nookie.

"I've seen three or four in my lifetime but that's not a lot when you see all the black one's I've seen," he says.

Nookie is expected to grow up to three metres, something that might not happen if she was in the wild.

"One of the main predators of stingrays is the killer whale," de Hamel says.

Meanwhile, Nookie has been drawing the crowds at the small aquarium.

"It's really cool and slimey when you touch it," says one visitor.

I will charitably assume this quote was a slip of the tongue --
"It's a genetic thing, where you get what they call a melanistic form. This is where the dark colours kind of get dropped out and so every so often you will get something which is particularly light," says Richard de Hamel, Mapua Touch the Sea Aquarium.

 

[Ann Littlewood]

"One of the only"?? Oh, dear. Plenty of slips of the tongue in this.