While recording and photographing underwater animals off the coast of Lady Elliot Island on the Great Barrier Reef, photographer Kristian Laine encountered a sight so unusual that he thought his equipment was broken: a giant pink stingray. .

While giant manta rays often have black backs and white bellies, this fish has a striking pink belly. Laine shared: “When I took the photo, I noticed that the stingray had pink skin, but I didn’t know that there were pink rays in this world. I was very confused and thought maybe there was something wrong with the camera. “.

After he looked closely, it was clear that it was not a broken machine, but actually a pink stingray. Turns out, this is Inspector Clouseau – the only giant pink stingray discovered in the world. Its special color is believed to be due to a genetic mutation.

According to Laine, the pink stingray is very gentle. When he looked into its eyes, he felt like it was smiling friendly. It was chasing a female with other male rays.

According to National Geographic, this stingray named after the bumbling inspector in the movie “The Pink Panther” was first discovered in 2015 by Ryan Jeffery. This is believed to be the only pink stingray in the world, and has only been seen about 10 times in the past 5 years.

Laine said this was a really great experience, and he got very lucky. He shared: “I didn’t even know that pink stingrays existed. After the dive, I searched for information and found that the fish I saw looked exactly like Inspector Clouseau. I was really surprised by what I saw. witnessed”.

Initially, scientists thought that the special pink color of this giant ray was due to skin inflammation or its diet. However, in 2016, a skin sample taken from Inspector Clouseau showed that this was a genetic mutation.