Rays

What we know

Rays are in GTA 6's sea. Rockstar told Game Informer that Leonida's waters hold several shark species, jellyfish, whales, turtles and rays, and that each has "distinct movement behavior" rather than shared animations (IGN, VICE). You meet them while scuba diving, which is on Rockstar's list of side activities, and IGN describes the Extended Look's dive as "incredibly vibrant with life".

What Rockstar has not said is which rays. "Rays" covers stingrays, eagle rays and mantas, three very different animals in size and in how they swim.

Rays in real Florida

The southern stingray is the classic Florida ray, a flat, sand-coloured fish that lies on the bottom in shallow water. Florida's wildlife agency (FWC) tells people to avoid handling stingrays and to do the "stingray shuffle" when wading: slide your feet through the sand so a resting ray swims off instead of being stepped on. That one piece of advice tells you rays in Florida live where people swim, as well as in deep water.

Question	What we know
Are rays in GTA 6?	Yes, Rockstar named them (via Game Informer)
Which kinds?	Not stated
Where you meet them	Scuba diving, per Rockstar
Can they sting you?	Not stated
Can you study them for the animal list?	Not stated for sea life

Our take: of all the sea animals Rockstar listed, rays are the one that benefits most from its promise of "distinct movement". A ray's slow, wing-like glide looks wrong the moment it is animated badly, which is probably why Rockstar named it. On a dive, look along sandy bottoms near reefs and in shallow bays rather than in open blue water; that is where real southern stingrays rest. If Rockstar copies Florida closely enough to hide stingrays in the shallows off its beaches, wading players may get a nasty surprise, but that is our guess, not a known feature.

What to watch for at launch

• Which rays are in the game: stingrays, eagle rays, mantas, or all three.
• Whether stingrays sting if you swim or wade too close.
• Whether sea animals can be studied for the checklist the way land animals can.