Stingray Injuries: When and Where Are You Most Likely To Get Them

Although it’s always good to practice safe stingray habits and wear stingray-resistant booties to prevent a stingray injury, it also helps to know when and where stingrays are most prevalent.

Season

You’ll find the most stingrays close to shore when the temperatures are warmer. The CSLSA Shark Lab did a study of stingray injuries at Seal Beach in the early 2000's that found a huge spike in stingray injuries in the summer.

This is likely due to a combination of factors:

1. Stingrays prefer warmer water and tend to move closer to the shore in the summer
2. People also prefer the warm water! There are a lot more beachgoers in the water in the summer
3. The courting and mating season for stingrays happens from April to May, and pupping occurs from August to September.

Wave Conditions

Stingrays prefer calmer wave conditions. A study run by Hoisington & Lowe found more stingrays as the waters got calmer. 

Time of Day

Finally, the Shark Lab study showed that most stingray injuries are reported in the afternoon - especially between 12pm - 3pm. Although it’s important to keep in mind that while this may indicate a pattern in stingray behavior, it’s also possible that there are just more people in the water during those times.

It has also been hypothesized that a receding tide may make stingray injuries more common. The theory is that the receding tide acts as a sort of "broom" that sweeps the stingrays closer to the edge of the waterline, increasing their density where people are in the water. There's not yet published data to support this hypothesis, but it is definitely plausible.

Beaches with more ideal Stingray Conditions:

As part of our efforts to understand stingray injuries, we have a survey section on our website where anyone can contribute to our stingray research (we’d love to hear your experience!). We’re recording where people are getting stung and their experiences with stingray injuries. 

Studies have shown that stingrays prefer warmer and calmer water. As National Geographic points out in their encyclopedic blogs on bays and coves, both bays and coves are partially protected from turbulent waves allowing for the calmer waters that stingrays prefer. We’ve put together some popular beaches in Southern California near or within bays and coves. This list isn’t comprehensive, but these are some popular beaches in or near bays and coves where you may encounter stingrays.

Seal Beach & Belmont Shore, Orange County California: 

Seal Beach is such a hotspot for stingray injuries that it is nicknamed “Ray Bay”. It is suspected to have the most stingray injuries per capita of any beach in the world, although this hasn't been explicitly tested. One of the reasons why stingrays are particularly abundant here is that the electrical-power generation stations on the San Gabriel River increase the average temperature of the water that feeds Seal Beach.

Huntington Beach & Bolsa Chica, Orange County California: 

Back in 2019, CNN wrote this article sharing how there were a record 176 stingray injuries reported in one single day at Huntington Beach. We recently spoke with the Huntington Beach Marine safety division lifeguards, who shared that they had 254 stings over MLK day weekend in 2026, and that they treat an estimated 3500 stings yearly. Huntington Beach is definitely a hotspot for stingrays, but the city is one of the most proactive with respect to beach safety. In 2021, they launched a Safe Beach Day website where lifeguards can report stingray injuries as they encounter them so the public can be aware of stingray activity even before going to the beach. They also put out proactive signage when the stingray danger is particularly high, and even send lifeguards out on ATVs to individually warn each beachgoer about the danger.

Huntington beach is right next door to Seal Beach, so it shares some of the hot water outflow from the power generating stations. It is also huge, with flat, sandy bottoms. and it's one of the most attended beaches in LA, which all contribute to the huge number of stingray injuries there.

Bolsa Chica, right next door to Huntington, is also famous for having an appallingly high rate of stingray injuries.

Coronado, San Diego County California:

Articles like this one from ABC 10 San Diego have highlighted how many stingrays there are near shore. In the article, they highlight Gator Beach on Coronado Island in particular, but Coronado Island as a whole can experience calmer water which stingrays prefer.

La Jolla Shores, San Diego County California: 

During summer months at La Jolla Shores, you can frequently see a line of recently-stung folks sitting by the central lifeguard building with their feet soaking in buckets of hot water, like depicted in this article. They share that they’ve seen upwards of 60 people stung in a day there. It’s always good to be proactive about avoiding stingray injuries at La Jolla Shores.

Mission Bay: Tourmaline Beach & Dog Beach / Ocean Beach, San Diego County California:

Mission Bay has calmer waters which stingrays prefer and is next to beaches including Tourmaline Beach & Ocean Beach. In 2018, The San Diego Reader posted some of the lifeguard’s notes on stingray injuries in Blacks, Boundary Line, Tourmaline beach here. 

Finally, these are some other beaches where we’ve personally received reports of stingray injuries:

• Long Beach, Orange County
• Newport Beach, Orange County
• Oceanside Beach, San Diego
• Solana Beach, San Diego
• Leucadia, San Diego
• Torrey Pines Beach, San Diego
• Encinitas, San Diego
• Imperial Beach, San Diego
• Scripps (North Side of the Pier), San Diego
• Cardiff Reef, San Diego
• Powerhouse Beach, San Diego
• Black’s Beach, San Diego
• Doheny Beach, Orange County
• Torrance Beach, Los Angeles
• Redondo beach, Los Angeles

If you're still worried about your next stingray encounter, check out our stingray-resistant booties!