Beaches near Nelson have been reopened after a suspected shark attack is now being put down to a run-in with a stingray.
Motueka man Mike French, 47, had waded about 100 metres off Kina Beach, near Motueka, shortly after 3pm today when he felt something hit him in the side.
The pain of the attack, on the scale of one to ten, was "on the ten", he told the Nelson Mail.
Mr French said he was by himself in the water and believed it had been a stingray attack.
The gash was straight and not jagged, which made him think it had been a stingray, he said.
Mr French was able to get out of the water by himself and a couple at the beach raised the alarm .
He was flown by helicopter to Nelson Hospital and is expected to be out of surgery about 8pm.
Sergeant Rob Crawford, of Motueka police, said an examination of Mr French confirmed that the injury was more likely to have come from a sting-ray than a shark.
Beaches were closed after the attack but have since reopened.
There have been three stingray attacks in recent months. Last month an 11-year-old girl was attacked at Riversdale Beach, on the Wairarapa coast, and a man was attacked at Marfels Beach, near Blenheim. In December, a 48-year-old woman was attacked in Golden Bay.
Stingrays generally do not attack aggressively but will react if stepped on or startled. They release a barbed stinger in their tail which can inflict serious injuries or even be fatal.
Australian television personality and conservationist was killed in a stingray attack off the north Queensland coast in September 2006.
NZPA