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Byron Shire
October 15, 2026

Stingrays: They give ya fever

Latest News

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The 'fever' of stingrays was spooted near Wategoe's Beach on Sunday. Photo Sonia Friedrich
The ‘fever’ of stingrays was spotted near Wategoe’s Beach on Sunday. Photo Sonia Friedrich

A large group of stingrays has been spotted in a migrating mob near Cape Byron. This school of rays, often known as a ‘fever’, though not displaying unusual behaviour, is certainly something seldom seen.

Sonia Friedrich has lived in the Bay for 14 years and says she has never seen anything like this before. ‘It was amazing to watch. I was hoping they would jump out of the water so I could capture that too!’

Sonia says she was on the Cape Byron Walking Track from The Pass to the Wategos to see if the whales were breaching the she came across the rays. ‘Another person pointed out the fever of stingray,’ she said. ‘Four of us watched on in amazement.

‘They were literally metres off the shoreline below. There is never anyone in the water here, thankfully.

Sonia says she watched the stingrays for about and hour and got some great shots. ‘The stingray all stayed together just below the surface and moved out about 10 metres and back, eventually heading off toward The Pass.

‘There was no one in the water and then one surfer emerged from the rocks to paddle across to Wategos. I yelled out to him to be careful because there were stingray around. He was fine.

‘This is nature at its best.’

 

 



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