Rays
Giant manta ray
Mobula birostris
Epipelagic zone · Mesopelagic zone
The largest ray in the world, a peaceful filter feeder with a brain proportionally among the largest of all fish, able to recognise itself in a mirror in the laboratory.
🗺️ Geographic range
Tropical and subtropical waters worldwide, with gathering sites in Mexico, Mozambique and Indonesia.
📊 Population
Global population declining by more than 50% in some regions according to the IUCN, threatened by targeted fishing for its gills, used in traditional medicine.
⚠️ Threats
Targeted fishing for gill plates
Sought for its gill plates used in traditional medicine, which fuels targeted fishing in several regions.
Source: IUCN — Red List of Threatened Species
Habitat
- Indian Ocean · High seas / open water · Epipelagic zone · Feeding
🥚 Reproduction
Ovoviviparous, usually a single pup, gestation of about a year.
Behaviour
- Diet
- Plankton and small fish, filtered through cephalic lobes that direct water toward the mouth.
- Hunting
- Actively filters while swimming, sometimes in coordinated formations with several individuals.
- Communication
- Unknown.
- Social life
- Sometimes gathers in groups at cleaning or feeding sites.
Physiology
- Anatomy
- A wingspan that can exceed 7 metres, mobile cephalic lobes on either side of the mouth.
- Respiration
- Gill respiration.
- Vision
- Highly developed.
- Adaptations
- A brain proportionally among the largest of all fish, suggesting advanced cognitive abilities.
🔗 Web of marine life
Predators
⚡ Its extraordinary abilities
- One of the few fish to pass a mirror self-recognition test in the laboratory
- A brain proportionally among the largest of all fish
🏆 Records
The largest ray in the world
Wingspan can exceed 7 metres.
Source: IUCN — Red List of Threatened Species
If you cross paths with this animal…
Risk: None, completely harmless despite its size.
Behaviour: Peaceful and sometimes curious toward divers.
Advice: Never touch — contact can damage its protective mucus layer.
💡 Did you know?
- Passed a mirror self-recognition test, a rare ability in the animal kingdom.
- Can perform spectacular leaps out of the water, for reasons not precisely understood.
