Unsuspecting fishermen accidentally caught this enormous 20ft manta ray while trawling off the coast of Peru.
The 1,000kg giant, which is strictly protected in international waters, swam into the fishermen’s net as they trawled for fish in a homemade wooden boat off Caleta La Cruz in north-western Peru.
Fisherman Franco Vergara, 39, said: 'We were taken completely by surprise when we felt the whole boat shudder and lurch.
'I had never seen a Manta Ray live before and it took a couple of seconds to realise what it was.
'Sadly, it was badly injured and I suspect it had been hit by a boat propeller. We towed it ashore and then called the local authorities.'
When seaport authorities and animal environmental officers arrived they needed a crane to lift the gigantic ray out of the water, where it was snapped by tourist Kelly Cruz Cumpen, 25, who posted it onto social media.
She said: 'I have never seen anything as big as this.
'When they pulled it out of the water it was dripping with blood. It was very sad to see. It is such a beautiful creature.' (Read the full article)
At least it wasn't intentional --like those people in Namibia who club baby seals to death or the Japanese/Chinese sailors who clip the fins off sharks and then throw them back in the ocean to die (just so that they can make some aphrodisiac soup).
It's sad, but I'm kind of happy that it was an accident because it makes me feel better about the people itself. When 100 million sharks are intentionally killed each year, I'm oddly happy that this wasn't at all intentional. Still tragic though. Manta rays are beautiful creatures.
It's sad, but I'm kind of happy that it was an accident because it makes me feel better about the people itself. When 100 million sharks are intentionally killed each year, I'm oddly happy that this wasn't at all intentional. Still tragic though. Manta rays are beautiful creatures.
To me it's almost worse that it was on accident because this means that fishing operations are still a mess and this won't be the last time that megafauna will be accidentally killed.
To me it's almost worse that it was on accident because this means that fishing operations are still a mess and this won't be the last time that megafauna will be accidentally killed.
It was already injured by a boat propeller though. It was a sad accident nothing more.
