Stingray Kills Michigan Boater

Guide Note: On Thursday, March 20, 2008, a 75-pound spotted eagle ray killed Judy Kay Zagorski, a 57-year-old Michigan woman who was boating in the Florida Keys. Reuters reports that according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesperson Jorge Pino, the stingray leapt out of the water and onto the boat, causing her to fall and hit her head. The medical examiner concluded cause of death was blunt force impact with the stingray and that she was not stung by its barb. The woman was boating with her parents and her sister on a 25-foot fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Vaca Key. The family has decided not to schedule an autopsy.

Reuters reports: According to Pino, "All rays leap out of the water from time to time, but certainly to see one collide with a vessel is extremely unusual."

Fast Facts:

1. What: Spotted eagle stingray kills woman
2. Who: Judy Kay Zagorski, a 57-year-old Michigan woman
3. When: March 20, 2008 at approximately 10 a.m.
4. Where: Off the coast of Marathon Key in the Florida Keys
5. Zagorski was from Pigeon, Michigan
6. Parents names: Virgil and Verneta Bouck
7. Zagorski's husband Stephen died in 2005
8. Zagorzki leaves behind two children, sons Levi and Travis

Stingray Fast Facts

1. Spotted eagle rays can weigh up to 500 pounds
2. Spotted eagle rays can grow to more than eight feet across
3. Spotted eagle rays are known to sometimes jump out of the water
4. Spotted eagle rays are not aggressive
5. Kingdom: Animalia
6. Phylum: Chordata
7. Class: Chondrichthyes
8. Order: Myliobatiformes
9. Family: Myliobatidae
10. Genus: Aetobatus
11. Species: Aetobatus A. narinari
12. Appearance: Blue dorsal surface with white-ringed spots, white ventral surface and long tail with poisonous spines.
13. According to Lynn Gear, supervisor of fishes and reptiles at Theater of the Sea in Islamorads, rays jump out of the water when giving birth, shaking off parasites, or felling from a perceived threat
14. The stingray died from the impact of landing in the boat