The beautiful, gentle marine giant spent many years winning the hearts of her aquarium family and visitors.
Cape Town, South Africa (15 October 2025) – Honey joined the Two Oceans Aquarium as a resident almost ten years ago, in 2016. If you’ve visited the aquarium before, you might’ve met her at the I&J Ocean Exhibit.
She got her name from her kind, one of the most beautiful rays to exist – the honeycomb stingray. They’re classified by their stunning reticulate patterns. These markings give them excellent camouflage abilities in shallow waters where they’re commonly found.
They’re members of the Dasyatidae family, also known as whiptail stingrays, due to the venomous barbs in their tails. Although considered predators, the honeycomb stingray sticks to a diet of bottom-dwelling animals like crabs, mantis shrimps, mussels and small fish.
They pose very little threat to us humans. Only a few thousand people are injured by stingrays a year, and almost all have foot injuries from accidentally stepping on one.
In fact, we’re more dangerous to them than they are to us. The honeycomb stingray is listed as an Endangered species on the IUCN Red List largely due to overfishing and habitat degradation from coastal development, pollution and destructive fishing practices.
For most of her life, Honey was sheltered from those dangers, kept safe under the watchful care of her human family at Two Oceans.
“Honey was 15 years old and had been a graceful, much-loved resident of our since 2016. In her later years, she was under the dedicated care of our veterinary team, who were treating her for a secondary infection and monitoring her closely,” the team shared.
Despite treatment for the secondary infection, Honey began to lose her appetite and shed weight, so the team moved her behind the scenes for more focused care.
“Despite every effort, Honey was unable to recover. Early postmortem results suggest organ failure, a common cause of death in elderly marine animals, may have been the reason.”
It was her time. Now, with her beautiful patterned wings, she’s flying through the oceans in honeycomb heaven.
“Honey was a favourite among both staff and visitors; her calm presence and beauty touched the hearts of many,” the aquarium shares.
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