Tralee Bay is final refuge for unique breeding rays

Stingrays may be usually found in tropical waters like the Great Barrier Reef but a RTÉ documentary has revealed how they swim to Kerry every summer to breed.

Tralee Bay — which is home to one of Europe’s only native oyster beds — has become a last refuge for rare rays and sharks which are in real danger of becoming extinct.

The stunning Ireland’s Ocean documentary reveals how stingrays and undulate rays – which are relatives of the shark – migrate into the shallow bay every year to breed and give birth to their young.

The normally docile creatures hit headlines around the world in 2006 when Australian television personality and conservationist Steve Irwin was killed in a freak attack by a massive stingray while filming on the Great Barrier Reef.

Filmmaker Ken O’Sullivan, who spent a year filming the four-part series, said genetic scientists believe the undulate ray arriving to breed in Tralee Bay is unique to Kerry waters.

He said: “Most people aren’t aware that stingrays and undulate rays are in Tralee Bay.

“They are amazing creatures. We don’t know where they come from and we don’t know where they go. They have probably been doing this for thousands of years.”

He said the film crew teamed up with some of the country’s best anglers recently to tag rays and take skin samples for genetic analysis.

“We’re working with French scientists who are doing genetic research into undulate ray to see if the ones in Tralee Bay are genetically unique — the signs are that they are.

- Ireland’s Ocean will be shown on RTÉ One at 6.30pm tomorrow.