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Manta rays

Images of manta rays taken around the world

Phylum:
Elasmobranchii
Class: Rajiformes
Subclass:
Myliobatidae

Mantas have many common names: Atlantic manta, Pacific manta, Giant manta, devil ray, devilfish.

Mantas are now registered on the IUCN list of threatened species.

Image gallery



Giant Pacific Manta, San Benedicto	Giant Pacific Manta, San Benedicto	Yap manta	Giant Pacific Manta, Socorro	Black manta, San Benedicto	Manta, Irian Jaya, Indonesia

Giant Pacific manta, San Benedicto	Yap manta	Giant Pacific manta, San Benedicto	Yap mantas	Giant Pacific Manta San Benedicto	Giant Pacific Manta Roca Partida

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Identification

One of the seas most graceful pelagics, the manta ray is the largest of all the ray species and one of the biggest creatures in the sea. Mantas are found throughout the tropics and live mostly on or near coral reefs. They are principally plankton feeders and usually inhabit areas where there is a good flow of plankton rich waters.

The genus manta is sometimes placed in its own family, Mobulidae, but FishBase (www.fishbase.org) puts mantas
into the family Myliobatidae along with relatives such as eagle rays. There is some confusion as to how many species of manta there are. At one point it was thought there were four, but currently, this assessment has dropped to three (Manta birostris, Manta ehrenbergii and Manta raya) but as these are so similar, it as been suggested that they are all a single species with localised variations.

Manta rays can weigh as much 1300 kilograms (3000lb) and be as wide as 6.5 meters or 22 feet from wing tip to wing tip. These wings are actually their pectoral fins. While most are black on their top and white on their tummies occasionally you will see all black animals. The markings on their stomachs – blotches, dashes and streaks – are unique to each animal and can be used to identify them.

Manta ray videos

Diving with the giant Pacific manta rays in the Socorro islands

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Videos taken with a Fuji Finepix F50

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