everything you ever wanted to know about manta rays

Learn all about the gentle giants of the ocean

Types of rays and manta rays

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
SubPhylum: Vertebrata
Class: Chondrichthyes = cartilaginous fish
Subclass: Elasmobranchii = fish that give birth to live progeny
Superorder: Batoidea = rays
Order: Myliobatiformes
Family: Myliobatidae
Subfamily: Mobulinae = manta rays and mobula rays
Genus: Manta
Type Species: Mobula Birostris (oceanic manta) and Mobula Alfredi (reef manta)

other Types of rays (not to confuse them with)

In the family of rays, manta rays are the largest ones.

Manta rays are very closely related and often confused with stingrays, eagle rays, bat rays, cow rays, etc.

Marine Life along the Coast of the Big Island in Hawaii

The Difference Between Eagle Rays, Stingrays and Manta Rays

Manta Rays vs Stingrays – What’s the Difference?

The difference between reef mantas and giant manta rays

There are two types of mantas: reef mantas (mobula alfredi) and pelagic manta rays (mobula birostris). The latter is also called “giant manta ray” or “oceanic manta ray”, or sometimes “the great manta ray”.

Oceanic mantas are larger and migratory – whereas reef mantas are smaller (but still huge!) and live in shallower coastal habitats.

The 3 Main Differences between the Giant Manta Ray and the Reef Manta

All About the Mysterious Giant Manta Ray

Get to Know the Majestic Reef Manta Ray

General characteristics of manta rays

What do manta rays look like?

Manta rays have large, triangular-shaped pectoral fins on either side of their body which looks like wings when they swim.

They have a flattened, diamond-shaped, disk-like body. Reef manta rays are primarily gray and black on the top (dorsal side), and mostly white on the bottom (ventral side), with batches of black pigmentation.

The patches of black spot patterns, as well as other unique physical characteristics, allow us to identify and monitor individual manta rays over time. Most of the manta rays are given a name when we first identify them. Several organizations keep track of manta rays and their movement worldwide; we keep our own database of manta rays spotted around Kona in Hawaii.

manta ray anatomy: picture with arrows pointing to the cephalic horn, eye, pectoral fin and eye of a reef manta ray.

Graphic showing the difference in wingspan of giant manta ray and reef manta ray

How big are manta rays?

Adult reef manta females measure up to 12-14 feet (from wingtip to wingtip). Mature males are smaller, up to 10 feet.

Giant oceanic manta rays can have a wingspan of up to 22 feet wide. A picture of unknown origin from 1920 shows a manta ray that measured approximately 30 feet.

We can only estimate how much manta rays weigh; depending on the gender and the type (giant or reef manta), most would weigh between 50 and 100 lbs (between 22.5 and 50 kilos) per foot of manta ray.

How old can manta rays get?

The lifespan of a manta ray is believed to be between 50 and 100 years of age – there is so much we don’t know about them yet!

We do hope our efforts in tracking and monitoring the manta rays around Hawaii over time will help uncover more of their mysteries,

One example is Lefty, an adult manta that has been spotted in Hawaii for a duration of over 45 years.

The Anatomy of Manta Rays

Manta Rays have Names! So Who’s Naming Them and How?

How Can You Tell Individual Manta Rays Apart?

Are manta rays social creatures?

Manta rays seem to be solitary creatures, coming together only to feed and mate.

When they do get together, magic happens: manta rays developed intricate techniques both for mating and feeding.

Are manta rays dangerous?

Manta rays are generally thought of as harmless creatures. They do not have barbs, a stinger, or teeth.

Flight is their only defense mechanism; their maneuverability and speed make them hard to prey on. Thanks to their large pectoral fins, they are capable of bursts of high speed, which they use to escape predators.

Are Manta Rays Dangerous?

How Do Mantas Interact with other Marine Life? [video]

Where are mantas On the food chain?

Manta rays are generally thought of as harmless creatures. They do not have barbs, a stinger, or teeth.

Flight is their only defense mechanism; their maneuverability and speed make them hard to prey on. Thanks to their large pectoral fins, they are capable of bursts of high speed, which they use to escape predators.

manta ray reproduction

Are manta rays fish or mammals?

For the longest time, the world thought that manta rays were cetaceans – marine mammals. However, manta rays are definitely fish and not mammals.

Mantas do have some characteristics of cetaceans though; they have the largest brain-to-body ratio of all fish, and they are better at problem-solving and communicating than your average fish.

Manta rays are cartilaginous fish in the subclass Elasmobranchii, and close relatives of the shark. Elasmobranchii give birth to live young, but that doesn’t make them mammals; they do produce eggs, and the egg gets fertilized and hatches inside their body.

How do manta rays mate and reproduce?

Manta rays have a very slow reproduction rate; they become sexually mature sometime between the age of 10 and 15, their gestation period takes about 12-13 months, and they give birth to one live pup at a time.

Manta rays have some pretty intricate courtship rituals. While they are generally solitary animals, they do get together to mate.

How are manta ray pups born?

Manta ray females give birth to a live pup. The young are almost exact replicas of the adult form, just smaller.

At birth, the pups appear cigar-shaped with the two pectoral fins rolled around them like a burrito. Reef mantas are about 2 to 3 feet across shortly after birth; pelagic manta pups measure up to 6 feet.

An adult manta female doesn’t care for their pup after birth as they are not paternal animals. This means that after birth, the pups are on their own.

How do Manta Rays Reproduce?

The Development of a Baby Manta Ray

the feeding habits of manta rays

Mantas filter-feed on plankton. Their diet consists of copepods, mysid shrimp, crab larvae, mollusk larvae, and fish eggs. A manta ray will eat approximately 12% of its body weight in plankton per week.

Mantas filter the plankton out of the water using a complex system of traps, filters, cephalic fins, and gill rackers.

They swim slowly and twirl gracefully when they eat; their large mouths open and their cephalic horns unroll to funnel the plankton into their oral cavity.

What and How do Manta Rays Eat?

The Manta Ray Cyclone: a Feeding Frenzy Phenomenon

8 Unique Techniques Manta Rays Use for Filter-Feeding

The habitat and migration patterns of manta rays

Where can we find manta rays in the wild?

Reef mantas mostly live along the coastlines in the Indo-Pacific zone, while the giant manta roams all the world’s major oceans.

Fun fact: according to scientific studies, manta rays from different oceans have the same mitochondrial DNA.

Great places to see manta rays in their natural habitat are Indonesia, the Philippines, the Maldives, Mozambique, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador, Australia, Micronesia, Ecuador, Fiji, Japan, and the Solomon Islands.

As you can see, manta rays are located all over the world – and every place is unique and offers a slightly different experience.

What’s the best place to see mantas in Hawaii?

The Kona Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii is home to three viewing sites where mantas come to feed at night, with a 60-80% sighting chance on a night dive at those sites.

In Maui (another Hawaiian island), Olowalu Reef has a solid population of mantas, but it is not as accessible and frequently visited with boats as the Kona coast. There is a “cleaning station” that they frequent during the daytime, but there’s no guarantee to see them.

Can we visit manta rays in aquariums?

As manta rays can’t stop swimming (and they’re giant animals in themselves), they require huge tanks. Because of this logistical hurdle, there are only four places in the world that are adequate to keep mantas in captivity: the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan, the S.E.A Aquarium in Singapore, and the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, GA.

The most challenging aspect is feeding: as mantas would continuously swim and twirl as they eat, it’s hard to replicate those circumstances in an aquarium.

So far, there have been no studies to determine if manta rays in captivity suffer any health or other issues due to their confinement.

The Atlantis Resort has been successful in releasing manta rays back into the wild; watch the video (and read more about mantas in aquariums) on this page.

Where to Find Manta Rays in the Wild Around the World

The 3 Manta Ray Viewing Sites in Kona, Hawaii

Where to See Manta Rays in Aquariums

How far do manta rays swim?

We don’t have much (if any) official data on migration patterns or swimming ranges of any type of manta ray.

Until recently, we believed the reef mantas’ home range would be approximately 90 square miles (145 km²), which is roughly 30 miles up and down the coast and 3 miles offshore.

The “Kona family” we know well (reef mantas who live around Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii) is most frequently observed at 3 different manta ray viewing sites around Kona.

However, we recently spotted Loulou Ray in two different locations around the Big Island, located 55 miles from each other. We don’t know yet if Loulou is an outlier, or if mantas actually swim further than we thought they did!

The family of manta rays that roam the waters of the coast of the Big Island, Hawaii are considered M. alfredi or reef manta. M. birostris, also called “pelagic” manta rays are rarely seen.

Based on current scientific observation, we know that coastal manta rays can go deeper than 700 feet (214 m) for short periods of time, but they spend most of their time in shallower waters.

Scuba divers and snorkelers usually encounter the manta rays from the surface to 80 feet of depth.

Swimming with manta rays and ecotourism

Snorkeling and diving tours with manta rays can offer a great alternative to less sustainable economic activities like fishing to local communities.

But ocean tourism is not without its risks: in the absence of clear regulations and enforcement, viewing sites can become overcrowded and local crews sometimes resort to activities that can injure the mantas and/or damage other marine life in the vicinity.

The Transformational Experience of Swimming with Manta Rays

Guidelines for Interacting with Manta Rays

Are Manta Ray Expeditions Harmful to Manta Rays?

The threats manta ray face – worldwide and in Hawai’i

How many mantas are left in the world?

No one really knows how many manta rays are left in the wild. The database of mantas around the Big Island of Hawaii contains about 320 individual manta rays; however, this catalog was started in the early 90s, and there’s no way to know how many of the manta rays in the database are still alive at this time.

The Manta Trust recently identified the 5000th manta in the Maldives since they started keeping a database. But again, it’s hard to know if they’re all still alive to this day.

Since December 2020, the giant (oceanic) manta is classified as “endangered” on the IUCN Red List, while the reef manta is labeled “vulnerable with decreasing numbers”.

Why are manta rays endangered?

Since manta rays don’t have many predators in the wild, humans are their greatest threat. Ocean pollution, fishing, and unregulated ecotourism are the most important activities that cause harm to the gentle giants.

Ocean Plastic Pollution and Its Deadly Effect on Manta Rays

Are Manta Rays Facing Extinction?

Protecting Manta Rays in Hawaii

What can we do to protect manta rays from extinction?

Swimming with manta rays is a life-changing experience and we hope it will be available to many generations to come. Besides, we need more time to discover more about the mysterious mantas.

Read more below about the different ways you can contribute – by supporting ocean conservation organizations, by speaking up and voting for better legislation, and by taking action yourself.