Road to recovery: Patients soak their feet in hot water to alleviate the pain caused by the stingray's barbed tail at St Vincent's. Credit:Miles Clemans "At no time did think it was a stingray. I've never felt pain like that before." The big toe on his left foot swelled up and turned purple. His in-laws drove him to the hospital where he dunked it in hot water. The pain disappeared instantly. "That's what I want people to know - that in hot water the pain just goes away. It's just remarkable. I had to suffer through pain I can't describe for 30-45 minutes," he said. The stingray patients received tetanus shots and had X-rays done to ensure the barbs were not still lodged in their feet.

Mr Clemans, who was in the water with his 12-year-old daughter, is urging the public to be extra cautious while spending time in Sydney's shallow waters. Last Sunday, a 30-year-old man was hit by a stingray barb on his leg while wading in Rose Bay. He was treated by paramedics and also taken to St Vincent's Hospital. Stingray incidents have also been recorded this summer at Lady Martins beach in Point Piper, Gibsons Beach at Watsons Bay and Pittwater. Michael Golding, director of the Emergency Department at Prince of Wales Hospital, said his department had seen six cases of stingray injury in the last week, including two on Saturday from the Rose Bay area. "This is more than we usually see. We see one every now and then, but to get a grouping like this together from the same place is unusual," Dr Golding said.

"[The victims] have all been wading in the water. I think we had a couple [of stings] around the knee, but most of them were around the ankle or foot." Often, the sting happens so quickly that people don't know what's happened until they get to the emergency room and doctors spot barbs or lacerations. Most cases were easily treated with stitches or a dressing, but stingray injuries did have the potential to be serious if the barbs got deep enough. "It can be quite nasty, the tendon sheaths, if they get punctured, can cause quite a very serious infection," Dr Golding said. "If it gets into the joint you need to get an operation to remove the barb from the joint."

Mark McGrouther, the fish collection manager at the Australian Museum, said people were most likely also being stung by the "generally smaller" stingaree which has a shorter tail that ends in the shape of a "flattened, rounded leaf". They are often found in shallow water, lying in the sand. He said people who are worried about being stung can reduce the risk by shuffling their feet in the water and splashing around to scare them off. "It's like a shark - you just have to be unlucky for something to go wrong. The stingray or stingaree doesn't want to be trodden on and they're not aggressive," he said. He said the extra number of people in the water over the summer months led to a natural rise in incidents. NSW Fisheries was also contacted for comment. "When you contemplate the number of people in the water everyday, you're more likely to be injured in a car or bus. The chances are very small."

St Vincent's Hospital and NSW Ambulance were not able to provide statistics on stingray-related injuries. with Georgina Mitchell