California bat ray

California bat ray Image ©️ Marine Science Institute

Big commotion the other night. Around midnight, our neighbor Chris heard loud splashing and thrashing just outside his boat. Thinking someone had fallen in, he jumped out onto the deck with a light, in time to see a giant black-winged creature rise out of the water and start beating against his hull. It was a California bat ray, a strange, cartilaginous fish often seen in San Francisco Bay.

The ray then swam over to our boat and beat against our hull, but unfortunately we slept through it.