Stingray Barbs..?

Question

What EXACTLY is a stingray barb made of? When it uses it in self defense (such as with the recent Steve Irwin tragedy) I know that it loses the barb, but will it be able to regrow another one it the original barb's place?

Answer 1

The barb is made of cartilage (same as the tip of your nose and your ears) and it's extremely sharp and serrated. Stingrays can regrow barbs and have been found with multiple barbs. Stingray venom typically isn't fatal, but it's extremely painful. The barbs are also brittle and often fragment in the wound. It's common for surgery to be included in the treatment for a stingray wound. Another danger is infection. Stingray stings are good sources for getting tetanus. Stingrays don't have any bones, they're almost entirely flesh and cartilage. The closest thing to stingray ray fossils that have ever been found are teeth and barbs. It's rare to find barbs because they're made of cartilage and cartilage can rot just like flesh.

Answer 2

Stingray Barbs

Answer 3

I found this excerpt from the following website, and hopefully it will answer your question....

"Lowe and his team of student researchers have been involved in discovering ways to help reduce stingray injuries. In Seal Beach, the city has been looking at ways of reducing injuries to the public, and they've tried everything from eradication to trans location - trying to move as many as they could.

Since none of these efforts were successful or were considered to be ecologically reasonable, Lowe proposed a stingray barb-clipping program. 'The barb is similar to a fingernail; it's basically a modified scale,' Lowe said. 'It doesn't have any nerves leading to it, so you can clip off the pointy end.'

But after two years of clipping the barbs of about 2,000 stingrays, Lowe and his student team found that these rays replace their spines every late summer to early fall. A new spine grows in, the original spine falls off, so at no point are these rays really without a spine."

I've listed the website below if anyone wants to check it out :D

Oh, watching TV last week, I also heard more insight into why Steve Irwin may have died. The doctor being interviewed mentioned something about cartilage damage, and how pulling the barb out of his chest was probably what killed him. The doctor described those sharp tracks that cars drive over, and how when the car is put in reverse the tires are torn right up. He figured that the venom would of course be extremely painful as well as the puncture wound, but those could be repaired and/or treated. But the damage done to his heart from the tearing made it almost completely impossible to save him.

Answer 4

phoenix is correct
and yes, even the ones you pet have barbs
i work at the GA Aquarium, where they cow nose rays have their barbs trimmed periodically
thos people who go to Grand Cayman to Sting Ray City and all those other places, and dealing with WILD rays, who STILL HAVE their barbs, but are so used to people that they seldome (if ever) use them
dogs have teeth, but that doesnt mean that they bite every human that pets them, similar with the rays.

To add to what phoenix said,

The tail of the stingray--like the one that killed Irwin--is equipped with a roughly 8-inch spear made of dermal denticles (like shark skin). The spear, is serrated like a steak knife and packs a venom that can be deadly to predators.
Irwin was likely killed not by the sting so much as the fact that the stingray's spear pierced his heart, similar to a stab wound by an 8 inch switchblade to the heart.

Answer 5

I was watching the news one night, and they had a segment on stingrays. The zoologists said that they cut the barb every once and a while because it does grow back, much like a fingernail they said.
RIP Steve Irwin

Answer 6

I'm pretty sure that sting ray barbs can be removed and do not grow back. Ive been to places where you can pet them, and they have no stingers. You dont have much reason to worry about a sting ray killing you, Steve Irwin (rip) was only the 17 person in recorded history to die of a sting ray attack, the 2nd in australlia.

Answer 7

Somehow no matter what happens it always gets back to this. Who would have thought that a freak accident would be connected to "holy barbs? LOL

Answer 8

I don't know & I don't think it loses it if it stings something. Some bees do. Also I've never heard of a sting ray stabbing someone in the chest. People who are stung step on them so are stung in the leg. Murder?