“They’re smart, almost like the dolphins of fish,” says Setyawan. Some are ready and willing to show off their bellies and identify themselves, while others swim in the other direction. Giant manta rays are slow-growing, migratory animals with small, highly fragmented populations that are sparsely distributed across the world. They are filter feeders and eat large quantities of zooplankton. Some are shy and some are more extroverted. Credit: NOAA/George Schmahl The giant manta ray is the world’s largest ray with a wingspan of up to 26 feet. His team can tell them apart from the unique spot patterns on their bellies. Manta rays’ large brain-to-body ratio allows them to have individual personalities, says Setyawan. His findings were published in May 2022 in Frontiers in Marine Science. “It took eight years of research to prove we had found it,” he says. In this protected environment, the babies are birthed and live until large enough to survive elsewhere. Setyawan says he and his colleagues have found the world’s first confirmed manta ray nursery in Raja Ampat. Scientists think that the animals give birth in manta ray nurseries, where most of the mantas living there are pups. Scientists also think them intelligent, as their brain-to-body size ratio is the biggest among cold-blooded. In the water, manta rays use their giant pectoral fins to move forward and they are fast. Reef mantas do not usually grow beyond 18 feet (5.5 m). Manta moms give birth to around one live pup every two to three years, and then she sets them on their way. The largest recorded oceanic manta was about 30 feet (9 m) long and weighed over 2 tons. Manta ray filter feeding above a coral reef in the blue Komodo waters (Credit: Kjersti Joergensen/Shutterstock) “It’s the best place to interact with mantas,” he says. In the morning or afternoon, for example, they regularly find their spot on the coral reef and enjoy what basically amounts to a marine spa treatment.Īs the tiny fish and crustaceans clean the rays, Setyawan bears witness to a sea creature in its element. Much of his observations occur in what are called “cleaning stations.” Manta rays often hover over coral reefs while cleaner fish, like the wrasse fish and the scarlet cleaner shrimp, remove parasites, dead skin cells and bacteria from the rays’ skin.Īlthough manta rays tend to fly solo, they’re known to gather at such cleaning sites during certain times of the day. It’s a slow-growing, long-lived species that has been shown in some cases to live up to 60 years, says Setyawan. The giant manta ray is the largest ray in the ocean, with a wingspan of up to 30 feet. Underwater view of Giant oceanic manta ray in tropical Nusa Penida island, Indonesia (Credit: Denis Moskvinov/Shutterstock)

Giant manta ray predators