Reef Manta Ray

Photo: Luis P. B. · CC BY-NC

Reef manta rays visit the canyon entrance on flood tides, using the current acceleration through the narrow channel to be effortlessly propelled while filter-feeding dense plankton concentrations. They regularly visit cleaning stations on the canyon walls where cleaner wrasse remove parasites from their gill plates and skin, sometimes hovering motionless for several minutes. Manta rays are long-lived animals with some individuals reaching 30 to 40 years, making repeat visitor identification at sites like Embudhoo an important conservation monitoring tool.