CAPTURE OF STINGRAY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20315, 25 January 1928, Page 8

CAPTURE OF STINGRAY.

RARE VISITOR TO HARBOUR. (Special ro Daily Times.) AUCKLAND, January 24. When the dorsal fin of a shark showed up off tire Nelson street wharf about 9 o’clock last evening, P. Hickson, the caretaker for Wilson’s Portland Cement Company, got his shark line ready, and cast the bait near wher e the company’s motor vessel Ronaki was lying. He did not have long to wait for a bite—in fact, it was a violent tug. When the line began to criss-crosg in the water the angler began to speculate on the nature of the prospective catch. It was a long and hard fight, and at the end a giant stingray was hauled in and, after much trouble, landed. On being measured the fish was found to be 9ft 6in from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail and sft 6in widc. ( It was hung up in on e of the com pany’s sheds, and this morning a largo number of visitors called. The stingray is one of the largest of it s species caught during recent years in the harbour, although a large number of small ones have been seen of late about the islands in the gulf. They are reputed to be good eating and inoffensive, except when they feel annoyed.