Watch That First Step Into Water--the Rays of Summer Pack a Sting

It’s that time of year again. Time for body surfing in the waves, sand castles along the shore--and a stingray in your foot.

As the warm waters of summer set in along San Diego County’s beaches, say lifeguards, more people are being injured by round stingrays.

“Oh, man, we’ve had a lot of them. Last weekend we had quite a few,” said one guard on duty Friday at Silver Strand State Beach in Coronado. “Every day we’ve been having five or six victims. We’ve had three today so far.”

At south Pacific Beach, the tally is two or three stingray encounters daily, although Oceanside city beaches have seen very few this year, according to lifeguards.

Explanations Vary

Why the increase now? Explanations for the rays’ movement closer to shore vary from the basic--a search for sex or food--to the social--there are simply more people on the beaches in summer. One thing people agree on is how the encounters occur.

Flat as a pancake and about the size of a frying pan, the stingrays flutter along just beneath the sand, waiting for lunch to amble by in the form of a sand crab. Although they usually stay beyond the surf line, at this time of year they can be found in water as shallow as 3 or 4 inches, said Jim Stewart, research diving safety officer for Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

An unlucky wader who steps on a round stingray quickly feels the reflex reaction of the creature’s tail, which flips upward, jabbing the intruder with a serrated barb near the tail’s end. The serrations can leave a nasty gash, usually in the foot, and a gelatinous sheath surrounding the barb contains venom that enters the wound.

“The pain is really intense. It’s a real tear-jerker,” Stewart said.

Soaking the foot in hot water for about half an hour seems to alter the venom protein so that it loses its potency, Stewart said.

He said the stingrays are showing up in shallow waters because a favorite food item, the sand crab, is hatching. Robert Burhans, an aquarist at Scripps Aquarium, noted that the worst shoreline concentrations of the rays seem to coincide with their mating in June and birth of the young in September. And Richard Rosenblatt, a renowned fish specialist at Scripps, agreed that the rays are searching for food along the shore, but said he thinks they are there all year--but fewer people are around to encounter them in other seasons.

Shuffle, Don’t Step

Whatever their reason for being there, stingrays are relatively easy to avoid. Waders should shuffle rather than step through the water, Stewart said.

“If you shuffle your feet along, probably you’ll stir them out of the sand,” he said. “Then probably you’ll cut your foot on a broken beer bottle. I’m not sure which is worse.”

Shuffling is doubly important if the beach is relatively deserted, he said. Stingrays don’t like people, and will move offshore from a crowded beach.

The summertime is also bringing jellyfish to San Diego’s shores, say lifeguards and fish watchers, but those are less predictable than the rays.

Also, a few small great white sharks have been caught by fishermen in the past month off North County. On Friday, Scripps researchers were dissecting one shark and preserving a second.

But Rosenblatt said swimmers and surfers needn’t be frightened. He noted that, in his nearly three decades at Scripps, every great white shark found in this area has been less than 5 feet long--barely larger than when first born. Scientists speculate that pups are born in warmer waters but move northward as they grow, he said.