If you explore the ocean long enough eventually a stingray will nibble the back of your head.
Johnny Debnam had the unusual experience on March 14 while filming a documentary on Australia's west coast for his Terra Australis production company. The group posted the video of a roughly 300-pound stingray swim directly over the 29-year-old free diver and bite into his head near Rottnest Island.
"I was hoping the stingray would come in nice and close, but I wasn't expecting it to have a little nibble on my head!" he told the Daily News Wednesday via email.
But Debnam was not frightened by the experience and said in the short video he hopes to see his underwater friend again.
It felt strange having it nibble my head, It was very gentle.
"I was totally at peace. I loved that thing going over the top of me. I thought it was awesome. ... It was a bit of a rush really," he said. "I'll be stoked to swim with him again. Anytime. Anytime that stinger's up for a swim. I'm there man. I'm there."
The 3:30 mark of the video shows Debnam lying face first in vegetation at the ocean bottom about 13 feet from the surface. The stingray comes close and covers his head and upper body.
"It felt strange having it nibble my head, It was very gentle," he told The News. "It didn't hurt. It felt like it was just being curious. Stingrays do have teeth but they are flat and are designed to crush their prey."
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Debnam, 29, said he gave the animal the proper respect, which is why it didn’t injure him.
Debnam said the animals are very common in the area they were diving, but of all the stingrays he has encountered he never found one as approachable as this one before.
"It was exciting, I enjoy interacting with large marine animals. A lot of the time they can hurt you if they wish," he said.
The stingray I was diving with was massive and had the potential to seriously injure me, but I was very careful about how I acted towards it," he said. "I gave it the respect it deserved and let it approach me instead of chasing it around."
