The man was diving off Pakatoa Island, in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, on Friday, 12 November.
According to a report in The New Zealand Herald, the diver was looking for crayfish in weeds when he passed over the stingray without seeing it.
The ray’s automatic defence mechanism was to flick its tail upward and dispatch its barb, which pierced the diver’s abdomen.
Paramedics provided first aid as the casualty was airlifted to Auckland Hospital where, it is reported, he remains in a serious condition two days after the incident.
Four years ago, Australian TV wildlife programmes personality and conservationist Steve Irwin died after being pierced in the heart by the barb of a bull ray, a large stingray.
The ray was swimming and being followed by a snorkelling Irwin at Batt Reef on the Great Barrier Reef, near Port Douglas in North Queensland.
Relatively new to the sea, Irwin was filming for a marine documentary, Ocean’s Deadliest.
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