Macquarie University/The Lighthouse
‘Raylene’ is the ruler of a group of smooth stingrays whose shallow-water fish-feeding forays on the NSW South Coast have given scientists a rare view of their complex society.
A group of smooth stingrays living under the tyranny of a ‘large and in-charge’ female ruler, nicknamed Raylene, have given Macquarie University researchers a unique opportunity to document the social lives of stingrays.
Watch out: Members of the Jervis Bay ‘fever’ of stingrays who have been under observation by Macquarie University marine scientists. Photo credit: Joni Pini-Fitzsimmons. Tile photo credit: Barry Peters via Flickr
Raylene’s group – known collectively as a ‘fever’ – has been regularly visiting shallow waters in Jervis Bay, on the NSW South Coast, since a fish cleaning table was built next to the Woollamia boat ramp in the lower Currambene Creek in the 1980s.