Carolien Ray was identified February 4, 2017 during a dive at “Two Steps” in Honaunau by Dutch manta enthusiast Daniel Versteeg.

As he recalls, “during the dive we spotted Carolien Ray in the blue and she was flying at about 75 ft deep. We were diving at about 45 ft. I tried to catch up and I started my decent. At a certain moment I was halfway down and it looked like she would swim away. Luckily she came over and came by me with a distance of about 3 ft. I saw her coming over and took several pictures with my camera. What an amazing encounter. I would like to name the manta [after my girlfriend and dive buddy] Carolien.”