They are protected in the Great Barrier Reef.

They are fished mainly in Southeast Asia and Africa, the most common market being in commercial trade and aquariums. The rays are considered near threatened on the IUCN Red List. The spotted eagle ray is hunted by a wide variety of sharks. These rays are commonly observed leaping out of the water, and on at least two occasions have been reported as having jumped into boats, in one incident resulting in the death of a woman in the Florida Keys.

Spotted eagle rays commonly feed on small fish and crustaceans, and will sometimes dig with their snouts to look for food buried in the sand of the sea bed. Near the base of the ray's relatively long tail, just behind the pelvic fins, are several venomous, barbed stingers. This ray can be identified by its dark dorsal surface covered in white spots or rings. They are ovoviviparous, the female retaining the eggs then releasing the young as miniature versions of the parent. Spotted eagle rays are most commonly seen alone, but occasionally swim in groups. ocellatus) and Pacific white-spotted eagle ray ( A. Recent authorities have restricted it to the Atlantic (including the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico) with other populations recognized as the ocellated eagle ray ( A. As traditionally recognized, it is found globally in tropical regions, including the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. The spotted eagle ray ( Aetobatus narinari) is a cartilaginous fish of the eagle ray family, Aetobatidae. These cleaning stations play a key role in the lives of the mantas, acting as important social gathering points.Īge at maturity: Females 15 years and Males 10 yearsĭistribution: Indo-West Pacific, to 32 N (Shikoku, Japan and Red Sea, Egypt) and 30 S (Margarete, South Africa and New South Wales, Australia).Range of spotted eagle ray as traditionally recognized, but see text These cleaner fish are looking for parasites lodged in the mantas mouth´s, gills, and on their skin. Reef mantas spend much of their time visiting cleaning stations on coral reefs, allowing small fishes to scour every surface of their bodies for morsels of food. Reef mantas frequent the relatively shallow waters along the coastal reefs of continents and oceanic islands, these smaller mantas are highly social and often resident to a specific home range, migrating around these areas as they follow changes in the seasonal abundance of their planktonic food source. Oceanic Manta Ray appear to spend much of their time in the open ocean away from reefs, diving hundreds of meters into the deep scattering layer to find their zooplankton prey.įor specific information about their location and sightings please visit the Manta Trust hotspots page.ĭistribution: Found circumtropical in all oceans to 40 N (New Jersey, USA, and Honshu, Japan) and 40 S (northern Tasmania, Australia).Īge Maturity: unknown, but likely to be similar to Reef Manta Ray.

The Oceanic Manta Ray is the largest ray species in the world, growing to a much larger size than its reef relative, with a disc width up to 700 cm (ft 23) in extremely large specimens, although the average size for most individuals encountered is usually around 4-5 meters. Mexico protection: NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 under the category of Special Protection. Unlike in Oceanic Manta Rays, where the black T-shaped head marking extends down through the back to join the rest of the black-coloured body, maintaining a roughly even width throughout, in the Caribbean Manta the lower tail of the T tapers together towards the bottom where it joins the back.Īge of maturity: Similar to Reef and Oceanic Mantasĭistribution: Found throughout the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, its range possibly extending further throughout the Atlantic OceanĪge Maturity: unknown, but likely to be similar to Reef and Oceanic Manta Ray. The coloration dorsally is a cross between de reef and oceanic mantas. The putative Caribbean Manta Ray is smaller than its oceanic cousin and more similar in size to the Reef Manta Ray. However, although recent genetic analysis supports a degree of separation between these two groups, these remains uncertainly on the validity of this proposed speciation. It may well therefore be that some of the pioneering Oceanic Manta Ray that crossed the open ocean to the Caribbean found plentiful sources of food along the inshore reefs and began to diverge into a new species- essentially, nature replicating the evolution of Reef Manta Ray again. birostris¨ appears to occupy a similar niche to the Reef Manta Ray. This putative species ¨Caribbean Manta Ray Mobula cf.

Throughout the reef habitats of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico there occurs a proposed third species of manta ray that is sympatric to the ocean manta ray in this region.

Manta ray size