Oceanic manta ray

Photo: Programa Marino del Golfo de California · CC BY-NC

The largest ray in the ocean, oceanic mantas have a wingspan exceeding 7 metres and are filter feeders that target dense zooplankton layers near the surface and at mid-water. Unlike reef mantas, oceanic mantas are truly pelagic, undertaking long migrations across ocean basins, but they reliably aggregate at productive seamounts, passages, and upwelling zones. At Manta Passage, they arrive on incoming tides and perform slow barrel-roll feeding loops directly in front of divers holding on at the current-swept cleaning stations. Listed as Endangered globally due to targeted gill raker fisheries and bycatch.