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A giant manta ray gliding through open blue water seen from below with sunlight above

Beastfile · Marine Life

Giant Manta Ray

Mobula birostris

Also known as Oceanic Manta, Devil Ray

Seven metres across, filter-feeding, and one of the few fish to pass a mirror test.

Overview

The giant manta is the largest ray in the world, reaching around seven metres across the wings, and it eats some of the smallest food in the ocean. It swims with its mouth open, funnelling plankton in with a pair of forward-curling cephalic fins and straining it through gill plates. Despite the old name devil ray it has no sting and poses no danger to people. Mantas have the largest brain relative to body size of any fish, and one study reported behavior consistent with self-recognition in a mirror, which is rare outside a small set of mammals and birds.

A giant manta ray swimming with its cephalic fins rolled and mouth closed

Origin

Tropical, subtropical and warm temperate waters worldwide, mostly offshore and oceanic, gathering at coastal cleaning stations and seasonal feeding grounds.

Habitat

Ocean

Notable Traits

  • •Wingspan up to about seven metres
  • •Filter-feeds on plankton using cephalic fins and gill plates
  • •The largest brain-to-body ratio of any fish
  • •Has no sting, unlike stingrays
  • •Individually identifiable by the spot pattern on its belly

Conservation

Endangered. Mantas are slow to reproduce, often bearing a single pup at long intervals, so populations recover badly from bycatch and from targeted fishing for their gill plates.

🤯 Fun Facts