Video shows sea creatures churned the water around fishing boat in NC creek

A shallow creek in eastern North Carolina suddenly erupted in fins and foam when a fishing charter encountered countless sea creatures engaged in a mysterious ritual, video shows.

It happened around 5:30 p.m., Monday near Bald Head Island and the creatures are believed to be cownose rays, which often mate between April and June.

Such gatherings are known as fevers, and Hannah Victoria Davisson says she recorded it from the deck of a Carolina Fly Guy Fishing Charter captained by her fiancé, Ashley Hux.

“Came out of nowhere. ... Being in the middle of that was honestly one of the most surreal and humbling experiences I’ve ever had,” Davisson told The Charlotte Observer.

“Moments like that don’t feel real until you’re in them — surrounded by something so much bigger than yourself.”

She added that the rays appeared to be “moving like one living, breathing spirit beneath the water.”

North Carolina Aquariums staff are among the thousands who have seen the video, and they note cownose rays “tend to migrate north this time of year and may move into shallower bays and spaces like this to mate, give birth, and have some feeding frenzies.”

The rays in the video “appear” to be cownose, and the frenzy could involve any one of those activities, aquarium officials told The Observer.

Male cownose rays reach about three feet along the East Coast and they “prefer shallow, brackish water,” the Florida Museum of Natural History says. Like other rays, they have a stinging barb on their tail for protection, experts say.

Breeding females are known to swim “with the edges of her pectoral fins sticking out of the water,” which appears to be what’s happening in video.

The charter boat made a point of not interfere with the rays, Davisson said.

“We were simply observing them in their natural habitat and being mindful of their space. It was a powerful reminder of how alive and incredible our coastal ecosystems are here in North Carolina,” said Davisson, who is originally from Charlotte.

“I told my 9-year-old son that he’d experienced something most humans would never in their life.”

Bald Head Island is about a 170-mile drive southeast from downtown Raleigh.

This story was originally published April 8, 2026 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Video shows sea creatures churned the water around fishing boat in NC creek."