![]() ![]() There were times I would find myself hooked and entangled myself as I tried to rescue the mantas, and I constantly worried about getting pulled into the depths once connected to the mantas and the lines. Some of the mantas were so badly entangled with heavily fouled nets that the lines would embed into their skin, making rescue extremely difficult and dangerous. Every year we would spend dive after dive removing fishing lines, hooks, and, worst case, large fishing nets from the mantas. "I was shocked to see how prevalent entanglements were in the region. Andrea details harrowing accounts of rescues during her time there: Sadly, the study surfaced an alarming finding– over 500 individuals showed human-induced scarring, mainly from nets or fishing line entanglement – highlighting a significant threat from fishing in the region. There are only very few animals that feed on giant manta rays – one of them is the tiger shark.A giant oceanic manta getting friendly with our photo identification team off the coast of Ecuador.Ĭopyright: Andrea Marshall The prevalence of fishing line entanglements They do not fight, each one lives on its own and acts peacefully towards its fellow species during encounters. Giant manta rays are loners and do not defend a special territory against other rays. Giant Oceanic Manta Ray - Photo: Sergey Uryadnikov/Shutterstock Life Style ![]() Biologists assume that the ancestors of the giant manta rays used their teeth to chew their food, but that the teeth lost their function when rays started to change their diet to plankton. Yet, the rays do not use them to grind their food. ![]() In their lower jaw, manta rays have a large number of teeth that are as small as pinheads. Cute! Giant Oceanic Manta Rays Have Teeth, But They Don't Bite In Australia, there also exist devilrays with a length of just about 24 inch (60 cm). In general, giant manta rays reach a length of about 13-16 feet (4-5 meters). The record length of 29.8 feet (9.1 meters) is not officially confirmed, yet large specimens can be up to 23 feet (7 meters) long. Giant Oceanic Manta Ray - Photo: magnusdeepbelow/Shutterstock Anatomy and Appearance The Biggest Giant Oceanic Manta Ray Giant manta rays look like birds when flapping their long fins up and down. Most rays swim with wavelike movements of their wings. Sometimes giant manta rays also jump several meters up out of the water to shake off the pesky parasites when diving into the water surface again. They don’t harm their “hosts” but rather help them to get rid of parasites by feeding on them. Suckerfish (a species from the bass family) latch on sharks and rays with the suction plate on their heads. Giant manta rays do not take care of their personal hygiene themselves. Giant Oceanic Manta Rays Get Cleaned By Other Fish They only feed on plankton, are rather tame and (other than the stingray) not poisonous. Who would be surprised to hear that sailors told horror stories about them in the 18th and 19th century? Yet, giant manta rays are completely harmless. Giant oceanic manta rays have a long sting-like tail, are huge and swim through the oceans as noiselessly as bats. Giant Oceanic Manta Ray - Photo: wildestanimal/Shutterstock Behavior Are Giant Oceanic Manta Rays Dangerous? They “swallow” the water with their mouth to filter out the plankton. Giant manta rays cross the oceans searching for plankton and therefore can often be seen slightly below the water surface close to coral reefs. Diet What Do Giant Oceanic Manta Rays Eat? The giant manta was named for its dark colored back, which makes it look like it has a blanket on it. They look like small horns and have earned the genus the name "devil ray" (also because of their size). Right in front of their eyes, they have two movable head fins. Giant oceanic manta rays belong to the Mobula family and are more commonly known as giant manta rays. Worldwide, particularly coasts, reefs and rocky shores ![]()
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