Reef manta ray

Photo: Ryan E. Gray · CC BY-NC

The smaller of the two manta species, with wingspans reaching up to 5 metres, reef mantas are filter-feeders tied to specific cleaning stations and feeding aggregation sites. Divers who approach cleaning stations — typically coral bommies swarming with wrasse — often witness mantas hovering motionless as cleaner fish pick parasites from their gills and skin. Cephalic fins — the horn-like lobes that give mantas their informal name — are used to funnel plankton-rich water into their mouths during feeding. Vulnerable; slow to reproduce and heavily targeted for gill plate in traditional medicine.