Are stingrays really harmless creatures...

Another story about those 'harmless creatures' - the stingray - are they really harmless...

We keep reading about these sea creatures who have attacked a number of humans, some fatally over the years.

The latest occurred in recent days in New Zealand. A Dannevirke, North Island, man in his 40's was dragging a net at Herbertville Beach in the southern Hawkes Bay, when he was attacked.

One of the stings went into one side of his leg and out the other, breaking off the barb.

He was treated at the scene by ambulance officers and then taken by rescue helicopter to Palmerston North hospital. An ambulance spokesman said he had been in considerable pain.

It is well over a year since since Australian television celebrity and iconic crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin, was fatally stabbed in the heart by a stingray barb.

His death was similar to that of an 18 year old New Zealand woman in 1939, who was at first believed to have been a victim of a sexual attack, but a post mortem later discovered that her heart wounds were caused by a stingray barb.