August 3, 2012
So imagine our surprise. We’re driving along the road in Raiatea (we rented a car for some sightseeing) and beside us not 25 feet away we see a spotted eagle ray splashing around.
We get out for a closer look and to take some pictures. It was swimming along on top of the shallow reef right beside the road.
Another surprise: there were four small spotted eagle rays swimming along behind the first one we saw. It looked like a mother with four babies but I didn’t think this could be the case – I thought they laid eggs that hatched without the mother around. After consulting Wikipedia, we found out that they are ovoviviparous – the mother retains the eggs in her body and they hatch one year later. The young, up to four at a time, are born with a wingspan between 7 and 14 inches. These were about 14 inches, we’d guess. It could very well have been a mother and her young. What an incredible road-side sight! -Rich
