The markings can often be used to recognise individual fish. The ventral surface is white, sometimes with dark spots and blotches. The colouring of the dorsal (upper) surface is black, dark brown, or steely blue, sometimes with a few pale spots and usually with a pale edge. The skin is smooth with a scattering of conical and ridge-shaped tubercles. The manta ray does not have a spiny tail as do the closely related devil rays ( Mobula spp.) but has a knob-like bulge at the base of its tail. It has a small dorsal fin and the tail is long and whip-like. The eyes and the spiracles are on the side of the head behind the cephalic fins, and the gill slits are on the ventral (under) surface. The teeth are in a band of 18 rows and are restricted to the central part of the lower jaw. These can be rolled up in a spiral for swimming or can be flared out to channel water into the large, forward-pointing, rectangular mouth when the animal is feeding. It is dorsoventrally flattened and has large, triangular pectoral fins on either side of the disc.Īt the front, it has a pair of cephalic fins which are forward extensions of the pectoral fins. The giant oceanic manta ray can grow up to 9 m (30 ft) in maximum length and to a disc size of 7 m (23 ft) across with a weight of about 3,000 kg (6,600 lb) but average size commonly observed is 4.5 m (15 ft). birostris with unfolded cephalic fins ( Ko Hin Daeng, Thailand) "There is still much work to be done, but that with the growing support from the fishing community, and backing by the Peruvian government, sights like this will become a thing of the past.Side view of M. "By assessing landings and conducting on-board observations, we discovered that manta ray distribution in Peru coincides with four important fishery areas, leading to more incidental bycatch," explains Planeta Océano founder Kerstin Forsberg. ![]() Manta Trust and their colleagues are working to better understand the movements of these giants – many of which are pregant females – so they can help (quite literally) steer fisherman in the right direction. "It is most destructive when the species in question is highly vulnerable due to either low reproductive rates (few offspring, slow maturity), low survival rates from capture, or both." "Bycatch is the collateral damage of fishing," he adds. To make matters worse, mantas only birth one pup per litter, and it takes a female 8 to 10 years to mature. "If this was indeed an incidental capture, then this case truly underscores the brutal realities of the negative impacts of bycatch," says shark biologist Dr Austin Gallagher, whose work explores the vulnerability of elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays) to fisheries. ![]() ![]() "This is particularly worrying, because our collaborative research project with Planeta Océano and WildAid indicates that these waters house one of the world's largest populations of oceanic manta ra ys." It's a harrowing sight, but there is an important lesson here: bycatch is a big problem – and a tricky one. "Oceanic manta rays are increasingly threatened in Peru," explains Manta Trust. Ohhhhhh NO! And from the distended cloaca, I would like to know if she was pregnant/aborted pups. Se violenta y no se protege: Manta raya gigante fue capturada en Tumbes #Perú /A7TptvrhZU Sadly I can verify that this is a real photo of a giant manta killed by fishermen in northern Peru a few days ago. ![]() Despite rumour that the ray measured 11 metres (36ft) across, it's more likely that it was 5 to 7 metres (the largest documented was about 7m). The manta ( Manta birostris), which tipped the scales at an astounding 1,000 kilos (2,200 lbs), was accidentally caught by fishermen off the coast of Caleta la Cruz. But we're sad to report that scientists at Manta Trust and the Marine Megafauna Foundati on have confirmed the images are real. When photos of this giant oceanic manta ray surfaced last week, there was some initial speculation that they might be fake. UPDATE (11:45 PST): The manta was not pregnant at the time of capture, no foetus was found during the necropsy.
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