Stingray swarm

At the northern extent of the Poor Knights Islands is a gash in the rock, cutting through a promontory to a depth of more than 40 metres. Pink maomao and rays parade through it, day in day out.

Produced by New Zealand Geographic

Northern Arch is a 40-metre-deep cut in a sheer rock wall at the northern end of the Poor Knights.

Like a busy city alley it attracts hoards of life—thousands of fish, and for a month or two every five to ten years, massive aggregations of short-tailed rays. The largest stingrays are the size of dining tables, but they are as docile as they are large, content to slide over a diver or come within arms-length of a snorkeler.

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