Encounters
with the Pacific Electric Ray
The boat was anchored perfectly, with the swim step right at the lip of the Bird Rock Wall on Catalina Island. We rolled in and fell 80 feet to the rocky ledge at the base of the wall. Although the water was clear, it was early in the morning and the kelp forest was still somewhat dark and gloomy. Out of this gloom swam a creature right out of a Star Trek episode. The creature resembled an organic version of the starship Enterprise. Viewed straight on, it appeared as a blue-gray disk about two feet across, difficult to see from above but bright white from below, a trait shared by many other cartilaginous fishes and rays. The disk is formed by two greatly enlarged pectoral fins that are joined in the front and rear of the body, rendering the disc-like shape.
Swimming on a parallel course, I was able to get quite close for an inspection. It possessed impossibly small eyes perched upon elevated mounds on the front edge of the disk. It swam slowly through the water column, propelled by a large rounded paddle shaped tail, mindless to the gawking divers and my wildly flashing camera strobes. The skin of the creature was composed of small hard scales similar to teeth. Sandpaper would describe the feeling as you carefully touch their skin. Once again we were nose to nose with the Pacific Electric Ray (Torpedo californica.)
Torpedo Rays were never very common and less so when nearshore fishing was allowed. The ban on inshore gill nets has assisted their comeback, and divers will probably see more of them in the future. It is my experience that they have little fear of man. I almost always see them free swimming in the water column and they swim wherever they want. They don't like to be bothered; I've seen them get aggressive when poked. This is one fish you want nothing to do with if it is angry. They are readily capable of delivering a dangerous shock (something to do with the volts/cycle mix), which could easily put you in serious peril underwater.
If you look at the underside of an electric ray you'll see two large rolls of tissue looking like loaves of bread running laterally down the center of the disk beneath the skin. These are the specialized organs, which act like electric capacitors and store up the energy to produce the shock. These rays feed by stunning small fish they envelop and zap. They are most active at night.
I always exercise care around these critters because I know a couple of friends who've been zapped, and I basically distrust anything that feels secure enough to ignore my presence underwater. One photographer had a Torpedo Ray repeatedly "attack" his camera strobe, and when the ray was done the strobe would not function. I have had them chase me as I retreated, and while they are usually seen stationary or slowly gliding through the water, they are capable of surprising bursts of speed - - much faster than divers are.
They are widely distributed and seem to be as at home in a rocky kelp forest as a sandy cove. For some unknown reason I've seen them more often at Cuyler Bay at San Miguel than anywhere else. I've seen them almost five-feet long with a three-foot disk, and I'm told that was a very large one. It certainly seemed so to me as the ray rammed me on a night lobster dive when my buddy spooked it. I was spared the shocking introduction, but the ray certainly got my attention. As they are more active after dark when they feed, night divers will eventually run into these fish sooner or later. I just hope the shock of the meeting is a shock of the figurative type as opposed to the high voltage encounters these rays are capable of generating at a chance encounter with a visiting diver. I must admit I relish the chance to swim with these creatures. It is doubtful we can come across any other fish with so bizarre a shape and equipped with such a battery of armament. They seem so vastly different from other rays, which seldom leave the bottom and run from divers. Stay on the lookout for these strange and wonderful residents of California's seas and marvel at the diversity of life we are able to observe as we pursue our passion for diving.
Steve Benavides is a frequent contributor to California Diving News. He is past president of Catalina Conservancy Divers.