Scuba Diving is a thrilling and adventurous type of sport popular all over the world, giving the unique chance to get very close to fascinating marine life and its colorful habitats. But do not forget that animals remain ‘animals’ and can sometimes lose their ‘kindness.’ This is what once happened to Mike Murray.
While Lawyer Mike Murray – a diver with 20 years of experience, was diving some 500 feet (152 meters) off Emerson Point in Rockport, Massachusetts, to hunt lobsters, he spotted a good-sized Atlantic Torpedo Ray 40 feet below ocean and swam over, trying to avoid it. Then he felt an extreme pain in his left leg and at first thought it was a shark.
When he turned around, he saw the ray fluttering past him and was frightened for several seconds until the ray swam away and he gathered enough strength and energy to get to the shore.
The paddle-like-shaped Torpedo Rays are known to be truly cool, easy going creatures, ranging in color from dark brown to grayish. They do not bite and have no barbed tail. But, believe it or not, they can deliver shocks of 220 volts, which is enough to hurt and knock a diver unconscious but will hardly kill a human.
Experts say that usually rays do not attack, and, in this case, the diver himself came in contact with the ray, forgetting that he should keep a distance of at least six feet. Fortunately, the electric encounter did not have a tragic end.