Cowtail stingray

The cowtail stingray (Pastinachus sephen) is one of the largest rays you can meet on Hurghada's sand flats: its disc can reach 180 centimetres. The dark grey-black, heavy-set body forms a rounded diamond, but its surest field mark is the tail: a broad black skin-fold runs along its underside, rippling like a flag as it swims – the source of both its Hungarian and English names. Near the tail base sits a serrated, venom-coated spine, used strictly for defence.

It is a bottom-feeding hunter: with sensitive electroreceptors it locates clams, crabs and worms hidden beneath the sand, then blasts out veritable craters to dig them up – a line of pits in the sand often marks where it has dined. By day it frequently rests on the sand beside reef walls, dusted over with a thin layer of sediment, betrayed only by its eyes and that tail banner. Curiously, its skin wrote itself into human history too: covered in tiny pearl-like denticles, ray leather of this species was used for centuries to wrap the hilts of samurai swords.

Around Hurghada, the sandy lagoon of Abu Hashish, the sand flats of El Fanadir and the "aquarium" of Gota Abu Ramada are its best-known haunts. The ray is peaceful and shy: it never attacks, deploying its spine only if stepped on or cornered. The diver's rules follow naturally: do not swim directly over it, do not trap it between yourself and the reef, and never touch it – that keeps the encounter stress-free for both sides.