Town of Huntington officials say they are getting more calls from residents about shark sightings. But it turns out, many of those fins breaking the surface belong to a different sea creature — rays. More specifically, cownose and bullnose rays.
“We get calls about possible shark sightings and things like that. And there have been some legitimate shark sightings in the last five-six years -- we haven’t had any this year," said Garrett Chelius. He is the town's deputy director of marine services.
"This was the first year we’ve had a bunch of calls about the rays. I’ve been living here my whole life, and I’ve caught rays when I’ve been fishing for fluke or whatever, so they’ve always been here, but they seem to be aggressively feeding in shallow areas this year, and that’s why people are seeing more and more of them.”
There have been sightings this summer in Huntington, Centerport and Northport harbors, as well as Huntington Bay. Chelius says there could be a few reasons for this.
"One, the water is about one to two degrees warmer than this time last year. Two, there’s a food source, an abundance of clams and all the things rays like to eat. And it could also be the proliferation of sharks out east in the ocean -- they’re a food source for sharks, rays. So they’ll go where the sharks won’t go.”
Not to be confused with sting rays, which have a more powerful venom in their tails, these rays are pretty harmless. A swipe from their tail is like a strong bee sting.
From the water, it can be tough to decipher between the two kinds of rays. Bullnose tend to be slightly darker in color, but he biggest difference between them are the snouts. Bullnose are more pointed, and cownose are rounded.
Be cautious in wading areas. If one approaches you, just shuffle your feet in the sand, and they will know to back off.
