one of the crew caught a small eagle ray yesterday, it had the hook well and truly embedded in its wing and mouth so I brought it onboard for extraction. I was pretty careful with it but it managed to get me in the foot. Thought I'd post this as evidence of what these things can do, the barb went in like a skewer and stuck in there about 10cm then sliced through the skin like a knife, I removed it slowly as the barb snapped off (4cm removed later in the E.D). We headed for home which is a 45min trip, passed out after 10 minutes, came to and then the pain kicked in, sweating, irregular heartbeat and general ****tyness! Emergency Dept wait was hell, eventually some pain relief, immersion in hot water to kill the enzymes, local anesthetic and 4 staples, I know we are all aware of the dangers of these things and as water users thought this may help if it ever happens to you, ray was released without harm Wasn't all bad though, 5 dhufish including this bloke's first (which was released due to quota!)

Ouch, and just when the surf is pumping...Lucky your heart isn't in your foot

yeah that second one is to allow for "release of fluids" according to Dr Sanjay.

yeeeouch!

I really can't/don't want to answer that bakesy, i got bitten by a shark which is a cartilaginous fish same as a ray, all i know is that infection is a real worry with these critters, your doc seems a bit vague from what you've said? I'd be seeking further advise from another professional because you shouldn't be taking this lightly mate.

I see, that explains it a bit better, can be hectic for those guys sometimes......bronze whaler.

thanks boof, yep dressing applied photo taken before new one put on this morning will keep covered, thanks for that.

is there anything CRC can't do!! I had some onboard too Thanks WM hopefully there's not a next time but it's good to know, any thoughts on why that would work?

CRC and a few other lube's are a fish oil based substance. The proteins of the fish oil break down the poison from the protein of the Ray's poison. It is used on trawler boats when a deck hand, while sorting, gets stung by a Ray. You can't just pop into a Dr. out at sea. I have used it for cobbler and jelly fish stings. 1 person told me how they were cut across the chest by a Ray and used CRC to ease the pain, he still needed a heap of stiches to seal the wound but had little pain till he got air lifted to hospital. I was a little uneasy about trying it but it worked like magic.