A rare albino stingray was spotted from the air, swimming in a shoal of thousands.

Marine life photographer Rodrigo Coutinho Martins saw the migrating sea creatures in the shallows off the coast of Vitoria Island in Brazil on March 12.

Aerial footage shows the massive gathering of stingrays scattered across the ocean, with the pure white albino ray standing out dramatically in the middle.

Rodrigo said: 'I've been looking for stingrays for a month, and last week I found them. It was surreal when I put up the drone.

'The albino ray got caught in a ray of sun and it shone even brighter. I tried to follow this albino with the drone, but it disappeared between the sand that it was moving around. But it was a really fantastic and indescribable moment.'

Experts say rays with albinism, caused by a genetic irregularity, are rare.

Fisheries scientist Jones Santander Neto said: 'The chromatic anomaly is caused by mutations that affect skin pigmentation.

'The stingrays in the video are probably of the species Rhinoptera bonasus, or cownose stingrays. They usually migrate towards the south of Brazil between December and April.'