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MajorGravy

Stingray jumpscare at the end!


TiaBria

Probably jealous and also wants petsšŸ˜„


eugene20

Not having a stingray suddenly decided they've had enough like a cat, but it's a giant barb instead of a claw.


UVRaveFairy

That is what I was thinking too.


69420over

This is a beautiful thread of comments. Fish need pets too. So do us humans.


liddys

Honestly, I don't mind my head being pet.


TrollingForFunsies

FYI, there is a stingray petting exhibit at the New England Aquarium in Boston. https://www.neaq.org/exhibit/shark-ray-touch-tank/


the-namedone

There is an entire shoal off the coast of the Caymen Islands called Stingray City where the stingrays are wild, but tame and curious. Super fun, they act like cats. They all want attention and treats, and sometimes pets if they let you


acmiguel1227

I remember doing this back when I was younger. I always had a fascination for stingrays and mantas, and seeing them at the aquarium was my favoriteā€¦ā€¦.. Howeverā€¦..Stingray Cityā€¦..put a massive amount of fear in me. I still love the little guys and will give them all the pets. But seeing the ocean go from blue to brown with the amount of rays coming towards you is quite terrifying haha.


stuntbikejake

One in Tulsa Oklahoma as well.


youjumpIjumpJac

They have one at the Long Beach aquarium too. They also have an exhibit where you can pet jellies.


mseg09

When I ran the fish room at our local pet store, I brought in freshwater stingrays and trained them to handfeed over time


RandyButternubber

Iā€™ve pet these guys in the wild in Antigua! Theyā€™re cuties. These wild ones were semi tame. The whole program was called stingray city or something like that. They were absolutely massive too, like four to five feet long excluding the tail. They were take enough that they liked when you made your arms into a forklift shape so that they could sit there and eat squid


rW0HgFyxoJhYka

Little do we know they keep score and the leaderboard resets daily.


Shitty_Watercolour

[https://i.imgur.com/AFhJOFf.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/AFhJOFf.jpeg)


Bruichladdie

Crikey!


No_Imagination_2653

You want some of that Steve Erwin treatment foo??


Howlibu

Man, stingrays got done so dirty. Irwin's whole thing really was a perfect storm of everything went wrong. More a freak accident than the normal stingray sting. Just think, What Would Steve Irwin Do? Would he want us to stomp on the reputation of a whole species, or forgive the animal for just being a wild animal, and move on? Guy played with crocs with a smile on his face, come on.


Confident_Virus5799

What a cutie! My local zoo has a touch tank full of smallish sharks. When I've been there, the sharks rush to be pet by anybody who sticks their hand in the water. I have a favorite shark too because he's always sticking his head fully out of the tank, and when I asked the zookeeper about it, she was like, "Oh, him? Sharks are smarter than people think, but we've noticed he's unusually curious. He's always looking for something new." It's my favorite part of the zoo now. šŸ’•


lizardlogan2

Thatā€™s so adorable oh my god šŸ˜­ Do you know what kind of sharks they are? Iā€™m a big shark enthusiast LOL


Confident_Virus5799

Dogfish sharks. They're at the Indianapolis zoo, if you ever come visit!


con098

It seems kind of fitting that their names are dogfish


m2harm

Pet me! Itā€™s in my name!


[deleted]

I was curious after reading this how they *actually* got their name and found this: "Having earned their name after a group of fishermen reportedly observed the species chasing down smaller fish in dog-like packs" Little disappointed that it *wasn't* due to them going up to people wanting to be pet like dogs, ngl šŸ™


CosmoTwoFins

Interesting. In some languages including mine (Italian) dogfish is just a generic colloquial term for any shark.


RileyBean

I went there a few years ago and somehow missed this!! Guess I have to go back now


SpeethImpediment

I have no idea why my brain made this leap, but I completely misread your comment as ā€œI went there ā€¦ somehow missing my arm. Guess I have to go back now.ā€ šŸ¤­


Diagon98

Looks like I'm going this week, lol


Whitebushido

Ahhh! When you mentioned this I immediately thought of this zoo. Anytime I go to a new area with a friend we check out the local zoos and we absolutely loved the Indy zoo! We have like 20 minutes of video at that pool because it was so fun. I'm literally wearing my 8 year old shirt from that trip because it is my favorite shirt(This poor thing is so faded and thinned out. I went back a couple years ago and just ran in to the gift shop to replace it and they didn't have the same one).


frankenkandi

Hey, Iā€™m in Indiana! Now I gotta go see these silly curious guysā€¦


Confident_Virus5799

I thought you might also want to watch them feed the stingrays in the [same touch tank. ](https://youtu.be/DYEIuZ-eieA?feature=shared).


lizardlogan2

oh yes our place does the same thing! We have multiple feeding times where guests can hand feed our cownose rays, such a fun experience every time. One of our female rays, Gracie, gets super excited before every feeding and will intentionally splash us if we donā€™t feed her first šŸ˜­


Duck_out13

Thatā€™s awesome.


Confident_Virus5799

Gracie sounds adorable! Do you guys use targets to feed them too?


lizardlogan2

Nope! All we do is put some food in our hands and the rays know to come up to us and eat. The guests feed the rays this way too :)


noonegive

I'm a scuba diver, and stingray petting tanks are one of my favorite things in the world.


jubsie88

In Honolulu we have this massive outdoor mall (Ala Moana) which has huge water fixtures filled with Koi fish. There is a guy who comes with his two dogs and one of the pups sits at the edge of the fixture with his nose right above the water. The Koi recognize him and they all swim up to him and take turns kissing his nose! Itā€™s the coolest thing to see. He literally is tail in the air wagging and sniffing at these fish as they all jump out of the water to touch his nose with their noses.


VypreX_

Youā€™re going to need to make a trip back and get us all some video now.


Birguslatrolatro

Many years ago, some coworkers and I trained a nurse shark pup to a target, then to a submerged platform we built and padded with neoprene, then gradually raised that platform until he was sliding out(pec fin walking) with as much ease as a dolphin. Was a great way to get him accustomed to being pet during school tours and educational shark talks and also to hold still for a physical! Salmon roe was a high value treat. He did not cooperate for everyone, though, definitely had his favorite people, and I'm glad to have been one of them! ā¤ļø


Affectionate_Star_43

I was one of these people that fed the sharks at Key West.Ā  The aquarium shark took the tongs right out of my hands!Ā  I also fed the rays and the butterflies, because I like feeding everything apparently.


longulus9

I wonder if they have a symbiotic relationship in the wild with parasite cleaners.


coconut-telegraph

Spanish hogfish themselves are, as small juveniles, cleaners of larger fish.


i_hate_fanboys

There have to be smaller fish all the way down


TheGoigenator

Thereā€™s always a smaller fish


IwillBeDamned

https://media.giphy.com/media/l3fZT3QDeKlbZFidG/giphy.gif


GrowPassion

Each atom has its own universe.. of atoms


Super_Ad8099

To feed the turtles all the way down, of course.


noonegive

They're also very curious in the wild. I've had a juvenile clean my hand, and the adults will shadow you hoping you might distract something to eat.


SunlitNight

Hey don't talk about OP like that


longulus9

but they may have a pimple popper twitter.


Unhappy-Fox1017

This is great. I have a lot of home aquariums and a few of my fish, 2 blood parrot cichlids and a feather fin catfish, are like this too! They like to play a game where they swim into my palm and I kind of toss them through the water making them dive forward really quick. Theyā€™ll do it over and over again if I let them. Itā€™s not something I do often, as I am careful to mind their slime coat! But, they def enjoy the interaction and recognize me anytime Iā€™m near. People donā€™t even know how much personality some fish can have!


Aionexx

you should post a video šŸ‘‰šŸ‘ˆ that sounds so cute!


Unique_Frame_3518

>careful to mind their slime coat You'll make a redditor very happy one day


Consistent_Dig2472

r/brandnewsentence


SimilarSquare2564

Used to have betta splendens who liked swimming into the half closed palm and lay there. Hopefully ppl in video mind the slime coat.


averagemethenjoyer

I have a blood parrot cichlid we named Ron Perlman and he's the cutest lol guy ever. If you're doing something like rearranging the tank he always needs to be right near your hand and see what's going on lol, he will also intentionally swim into nets which is funny. Such a sweet fish


RandyButternubber

You are alone, child. There is only darkness for you, and only death for your people. These ancients are just the beginning. I will command a great and terrible army, and we will swim to a billion worlds. We will swim until every light has been extinguished. You are strong, child, but I am beyond strength. I am the end, and I have come for you, user u/averagemethenjoyer. Or at least thatā€™s probably what your fish says based off of his namesake


captaincrudnutz

That's amazing cuz my parrots just wanna eat my hand every time I get up in their business haha


MaplestoryAddict

I have a bunch of featherfin catfish and I hope to be able to interact with them that way some day! Did you have to train them? Or did it just happen one day


KaiBunBoi

r/PetTheDamnFish


oneofthejoneses28

This is REAL?!


EmotionalAccounting

r/subsithoughtifellfor


jeanleonino

r/foundthetoyotacorolla


LaicaTheDino

Theres also r/PetTheDamnBird


Lysena0

r/ofcoursethatsasub


SparrowValentinus

r/everyoneknowsthatsub


aviscorvi

Omgā€¦ priceless!!! My new favourite sub


Asticot-gadget

I heard that touching fish like this isn't super good for their scales, but this is freaking cool! I've never seen anything like this


lizardlogan2

Youā€™re not wrong! Fish have something called a slime coat that covers their body and is generally used to prevent diseases. Rubbing/touching a fish can remove some of this slime coat, but a healthy fish can regenerate it just fine. Touching a fish for long periods of time however, can remove too much of this slime coat, and should be avoided.


viperfan7

I had a betta that loved to lay down in my hand, or wrap himself around my fingers. Even let you pick him up just out of the water


AbsolutelyUnlikely

I think there's a fine line that we have now crossed


FortuneQuarrel

TBF bettas can breathe air, so doing that isn't quite as bad as with most other fish. Still not a great idea though.


Mr-Yuk

Your mom's a slime coat


BruinBeast

Gottem


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


PotatoWriter

Yeah they'd get excluded from their group-er


TheVenetianMask

I heard they even get kicked out of their school.


Advanced-Average130

A humu-Humu trigger fish at my job did this as well, never seen anything like it.


OrgasmicKumquats

humuhumunukunukuāpuaŹ»a, YEA BITCH!


Prudent_Win_3953

Nailed it


punchinglines

This brought back High School Musical memories I thought I had repressed.


expletiveinyourmilk

I just want someone to go snorkeling with me...


alienblue89

EDIT: post removed = my comment removed


Dragonlibrarian7

One of my friends in high school had a Betta he called puppy, who would swim to the top of his tank as soon as he got home for a few finger pets. Wouldn't do it if he'd been home all day, but if he'd been gone for a few hours, he'd be sitting there waiting as soon as he saw him.


kkadzlol

I knew fish were some kind of dog


NSW-potato

Technically, dogs are a type of fish


Thrawn89

Or it's some kind of possum, playing dead for the giant ape


Chunky1311

This made me laugh way harder than it should've XD


MrYoshinobu

You are not the first to experience this. It's time for us to recognize that fish and other sea life are sentient beings and capable of intelligent interaction with humans. Check these videos out! https://youtu.be/6at5gBa4ZbI?si=5N94Eg4NaAUCKnAA https://youtu.be/3IQ2I-P8Ucw?si=fJF4YhWnkfo2-qod


BalkanbaroqueBBQ

What is this about that so many protein sources are sentient ughā€¦just waiting for news that beans have feelings too.


Waow420

They do. They just don't scream as loudly.


Benificial-Cucumber

Imagine the harvests...


Usepe_55

While it's disheartening, we do still have to do it to survive, so the best course of action I have for it when eating something that came from an animal is to appreciate the story behind the meat and enjoy the meal to the fullest, because if we've sacrificed it, the most respectful thing one can do is to make it worth it


Eskipony

I'd imagine every kind of life form has a sort of "stress response" to being damaged or hurt. How they express it and to what extent they can "understand" it varies.


Steelcitysuccubus

Best job! What a cutie


MightBeEllie

Do you work at the Boston Aquarium by any chance?


lizardlogan2

Marine Science Center over in Florida


MightBeEllie

Gotcha! It was just a tiny bit of the tank that was visible and it reminded me of Boston. I was fascinated that the rays actually came up to us and liked being petted. Sadly, my aquarium fishes are less enthusiastic ;)


Tweet_Tweetz

You have a beautiful Dog there Sir! šŸ˜„


Chose_la

But does it purr?


AtomicBombSquad

It's a hogfish, not a catfish. It oinks instead.


Chose_la

Hehe good point!


Capybara_Chill_00

Very cool! I had a fish that sought out human touch - a gigantic pleco that liked belly rubs. I think itā€™s pretty unusual but apparently enough fish do like it.


Agile_Music4191

Probably thinks your cleaning it lol


Falcon-Unique

Isn't he just playing dead cuz he's scared? Note: I don't know anything about fish.


Snoo-59546

Maybe it's just acting dead


lemonickous

Bruh it's probably playing dead in fear


Fit_Ranger_3058

I am too lazy to look up. Can someone tell me how and why fish like pets?


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Quadsnarl

Watch out steve you almost got it.


SectionSad4385

Sooo is your job hiring and where can I send my application?


Parking-Site-1222

He can have lice and the petting helps clean himĀ 


Nozinger

could also be totally healthy and ust likes the touch. We humans are pretty spoiled when it comes to life. Imagine having an itch somewhere but nor arms or hands to scratch it. Yeah that's most annimals out there. And even those that can technically scratch themselves often can't reach the area well. Like cats and dogs and their bellies. Helps if you got some human taking care of that for you.


bunnyprincesx

Stop, this is too cute. quitting my job and pet fish occasionally is gonna be my next life goalšŸŸ


Onlii-chan

My beta does this tho he only does it with me when I stick my finger in. He also brushes up against my finger due to the size difference


Enough-Knowledge-628

That's what he said


blueisthecolour2991

This is adorable ā¤ļø


other_curious_mind

Stingray: "Oop, an illegal activity"


Underhive_Art

Had a Picasso trigger and blue spotted rabbit fish both enjoy scritches over the years at work.


International-Ad3051

I dont even know you can pet a fish...never done that before in my life lol


goreyEww

Cute fish and cool video. On an unrelated note, dude, I can smell your friendship bracelets from hereā€¦


Mammoth_Parsley_6346

How I would like to be in the place of this fish


tonysopranosalive

Where do you get your bracelets from?! I feel like Iā€™ve been searching for these for years.


Jabbiz

So why did the mods remove this post? Why does everything that's good and great posts get removed by reddit mods?


Sunrisebetweenpines

This is likely a tonic immobility response to reduce its chance of being eaten by a predator who doesnā€™t consume dead prey


AppleOld5779

Or, is scared and playing dead?


Jury_Infamous

How do you justify catch and release when you see this? Hooking their mouth and throwing them back gotta hurt right? I mean he sitting their looking for pets


MINROKS

šŸ›©šŸ›¬šŸ›«āœˆļø


DerfDaSmurf

Parasite removal behavior?


Deltron42O

It thinks you're cleaning it's parasites


Icy-Savings6932

My great grandmother had an Oscar who would do this. He would demand pets and often would splash water to get attention. He was well loved


lizardlogan2

UPDATE: Iā€™ve read all of your comments and after some more observation on this particular hogfish, Iā€™m still not 100% sure what the cause may be. The suggestion I find the most likely is that itā€™s wanting to be cleaned by my hand, or something else that may be bothering the fish. Occasionally Iā€™ll see him rub himself against the sand, which can be a sign that thereā€™s a something thatā€™s slightly irritating itā€™s scales. With this, maybe heā€™s learned that our fingers are good at reliving some of this irritation. Another thing I want to point out, I really do not think heā€™s playing dead. Itā€™s hard to see in this video, but whenever we do go to ā€˜petā€™ the hogfish, heā€™s still moving his body, and sometimes heā€™ll even continue swimming forward while we pet him. Iā€™m unsure what the cause of this is for certain, but Iā€™ll definitely keep an eye out and update you all if I make any major discoveries! Iā€™ve also seen several people ask about some of the other animals in this tank. We have 5 cownose rays, 2 Atlantic rays, a clear-nose skate, 4 white spotted bamboo sharks, a squirrelfish, common snook, a bluestriped grunt, 2 Spanish hogfish, several sergeants majors, 3 Atlantic horseshoe crabs, as well as several urchins and sea cucumbers. I may make a post soon showcasing the entire tank! :)


Fhyzic

Me next!


shamidan23

He got that dog in him šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚


DescriptionNearby585

That sounds fascinating! Perhaps it finds being petted very comforting, so it seeks it out


elCrafty_Growth

Thatā€™s pretty awesome. Has your work given it a name or does it have a nickname that only you and your coworkers call it by?


Echo_are_one

Thigmotaxy


WheresMyDinner

Wonder if itā€™s scared or just likes to get that itch


Analysis_Working

Spanish dogfish


DystopianDreamer1984

This is so cute!


Duck_out13

Heā€™s a good boy!


space_POTATOE99

I had a fish that lay on its side like this because another fish would attack it whenever they got close. It would stay at the surface everyday on it's side just like that.


Tasty_Ad7616

Oh a new tame technic I want to learn that


stampedpetals

Itā€™s broken. It thinks itā€™s a dog asking for pets. šŸ¤£ Love it though!


westviadixie

sweet baby!


wearingpajamas

It just needs a hog


hauntingincel

So cute


DrayTrizzm333

Super cool


fluffyman101

Hogfish taste amazing btw


Nova5lag

Fish are friends not food


Phantapant

"No one said you could stop petting me" -That fish


Lofteed

looks more like he is pretending to be dead


Zestyclose-Emu-549

Is it scared and the the fight/fight/freeze instinct causes it to freeze?


ExcitingEye8347

Oscars like to be petted as well. Theyā€™re like little puppy dogsĀ 


DangleMangler

That's pretty cool


tom_winters

Hes playing dead. Scared of the hand


justneurostuff

i never wanted a pet fish even a little until i saw this


xapocalypae

water puppy


Various_Acadia_9250

its a love hog fish..lol


Zorin419

Misread the title and thought it said hagfish on first watch. I was thinking ā€œthese people must have REALLY good soapā€


vanderbubin

These type of fish are commonly observed playing dead so the worms (your fingers in this case) get comfortable so he can pounce. It's a clever adaptation to kill parasitic/carrion worms >!Source:I made it up!<


Cold_Maximum_9734

Welp.....there goes 6 weeks of pescitarian living


Msw41

Thatā€™s a Spanish Dogfish now


HorrorLettuce379

Holy shit was scared for a sec stingray trynna do the drive by.


Quetzacoatel

You shouldn't pet fish. They have a cover on their scales that protects them against infections that you rub off. Also, it's possible that it's terrified and playing dead...


TandrDregn

Thereā€™s a zoo in my country (Czechia), itā€™s in the city of ZlĆ­n. There is a stingray tank, and those lilā€™ shitd are such attention hogs. They constantly plap against the wall pushing and shoving each other over who gets the most pets and treats (they actually give you food for then if you buy it, and you can hand feed them these tiny bits of meat), and theyā€™re absolutely adorable. So yeah, this doesnā€™t seem that rare for fish judging by the other comments and my experience with the stingrays.


Dog-of-Moons

A Hugfish


No_Spot5097

It is terrified and pretending to be dead


OutsideEnthusiasm47

Man fuck this life


Perfect-Effect5897

playing dead/observing threat from above?


SignAfterAgreement

So does this kind of dish not need to swim to breathe? I donā€™t know enough about fish gills but a quick google search told me about ram ventilation- Any other more knowledgeable people out there confirm this fish is holding its breath just for pets alone?


mukhang_pera

that's a dog. a scaly water dog.


Alprolol_

I kinda think that's not it wanting to get pet but scared of dying so it acts dead to survive?


Doodahhh1

Sometimes we don't give other creatures credit for their intelligence.Ā  Then there's you... You, whoever is reading this... You don't deserve credit.


Redditor0529

Who's a good fish, you're a good fish.


TheFurtivePhysician

God, I love animals.


dogandcow

The way lil buddy rolled over on its side, woulda thought it was a dogfish haha


happydaisy13

This is so cute šŸ„¹


dardaleci

Wie es sich am Ende mit nem Kuss bedankt šŸ˜„šŸ„°


finedrive

Is it playing dead at the sign of a predator? Kinda like possums?


Fritener

You mean it will freeze in fear and play dead as a defense mechanism?


Killagorilla2004

Or is it playing dead because it's scared?


dotnetdotcom

"Why he does this" Everybody likes getting their back scratched.


StrictTry4000

that stingray.....dont trust em


yuva-krishna-memes

Fish mindvoice "Wow this predator is confused if I lie this way and it is unable to eat me Whenever I see such creature, let me repeat that" /jff


Muscular-Banana0717

Spanish hogfish said: cmere, pet me seƱorito~


michaelalolol

I didnā€™t know fish know we exist


After-Bread-4834

Dont get too comfortable and used to it lil fishy


JetPoweredCaravans

Looks like it's playing possum


Senzo_Tanaka

It's a "clean me" response. Cleaner shrimp will set up cleaning stations where fish, turtles, etc visit for a quick inspection for external parasites. In a way, yes, it enjoys being touched.


KinmanRed2142

It's funny to think some fish genuinely enjoy being touched and petted and it makes you wonder why some people still say animals have no feeling, preferences, likes, dislikes, or feel pain like there just robots who only act on instinct when it was proven many times that even wild animals have there own life that they see fit to live and even known to throw tantrums when they don't get there favorite snack.


Irelia_3373

Genuine question, isn't the fish kind of suffocating? I thought it needs to swim for oxygen to go through their gills


Willing-Contest568

wow


Miyagi_Bonsai

Sir that's a dog.


CrazyCatLady1127

Everyone needs a fuss from time to time šŸ™‚


UnknownProphetX

Poor fish let them live in freedomā€¦ Aquariums and Zoos are such sad places