Pregnant 400-pound eagle ray jumps into boat during Alabama event. ‘Absolutely scary’
April Jones was on a fishing boat with her family when a sea creature as heavy as a small bear leaped into the vessel and hit her shoulder.
“This thing was beautiful,” she wrote on Facebook of the 400-pound spotted eagle ray that jumped into her family’s boat on July 16 in Alabama waters, “but 400+ lbs jumping in a boat and hitting you doesn’t feel good (er trip for me) and absolutely scary.”
Jones did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
Jones was on the water with her family taking part in the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, a 3-day fishing tournament at Dauphin Island, when the ray landed in their boat, according to WPMI. Dauphin Island is a barrier island in Mobile Bay connected to the mainland by a three-mile bridge.
Jones suffered a shoulder strain and has a sore collarbone, she wrote on Facebook.
After the ray, which Jones said had a wingspan of about 5 feet, landed in the boat, four men had to work together to get it back into the water, she wrote.
But the ray left behind four babies that were born early and did not survive, Jones wrote.
“We think the reason she was jumping (is) due to a remora being stuck to her belly since it was also in the boat,” Jones wrote.
A remora is a type of sucker fish that often attaches itself to large marine animals and feeds off of their external parasites.
The dead baby eagle rays were given to Dauphin Sea Lab, an aquarium on Dauphin Island, for research, Jones wrote.
A spokeswoman for the Dauphin Sea Lab confirmed the organization received the pups.
“We are devastated the babies did not survive but there was nothing we could have done,” Jones wrote.
Eagle rays, which are considered “near threatened,” generally give birth to live litters of one to four pups, according to Oceana.org.
Eagle rays can grow to have wingspans of nearly 10 feet and weigh up to 500 pounds, according to the organization. They have venomous spines on their tails that they use for defense against predators.
Other than injuring Jones, the eagle ray that leaped into her family’s boat also damaged four fishing rods, broke the boat’s bimini top - a canvas shade covering that sits over the cockpit - and wrecked the boat’s power poles, Jones wrote on Facebook.
“This is a story you would have needed to see to believe!!” she wrote. “God made some beautiful creatures!!”
This story was originally published July 18, 2022 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Pregnant 400-pound eagle ray jumps into boat during Alabama event. ‘Absolutely scary’."