What does a manta ray eat? Manta ray or giant sea devil (lat.

The manta ray is one of the most large fish peace. But, oddly enough, science knows surprisingly little about them.

text: Juliet Irmer

photo: Takako Uno and Stephen Wong

Four black and white giants emerge from the darkness of the ocean. On both sides, their flat bodies turn into wide fins, which they flap like wings. A school of fish flies in the water like a flock of birds.

Manta rays soar over the reef with their mouths wide open. One of them heads towards the divers and turns sharply right in front of them, showing its light belly. A flash flashes. Huge fish circle over the reef, and scuba divers signal each other to surface.

Two hours later, Andrea Marshall downloads the photos onto her computer. The thatch-roofed research station in Tofo, a village in southern Mozambique, is as hot as a greenhouse. The fan doesn't help. The sound of the surf can be heard from afar.

For ten years now, 31-year-old hydrobiologist Andrea Marshall has been studying the world's largest species of stingray. Manta or giant sea ​​devil, is one of the most big fish on Earth. An adult stingray weighs up to two tons, the span of its lateral fins can reach seven meters - almost like a football goal.

There's only one kind manta rays, states the Fish Catalog, a large three-volume reference book that sits on Marshall’s shelf. But the marks on her world map tell a different story. The researcher marked the habitats of all known manta populations with red and blue dots. Blue means one type, red means another. This map is her personal proof of the theory that there are not one, but two varieties of these fish.

Today's photographs taken by Marshall and her colleague, New Zealand biologist Simon Pearce, appear on the monitor. Three of the four stingrays they met were old acquaintances, to whom scientists assigned very American nicknames: Compass, 50 cents and Apple Pie. Scientists distinguish them by spots and scars on the belly and the lower part of the lateral fins. In each fish they form a unique pattern. For example, the 50-cent stingray has streaks on its belly that resemble the numbers “5” and “0,” and the right fin, bitten by a shark, curves in the shape of the letter “c,” which begins the word “cent.”

Marshall looks at photos of the fourth stingray. This is a female. Dark spots on her belly they look like a lion's paw print. The researcher compares the photo with photographs of other females in the database. There are no matches. Marshall names the newcomer Simba after the lion cub from The Lion King.

Simba is the 743rd stingray in her catalog. There are few manta ray populations in the entire world as large as here, off the coast of Mozambique, near the village of Tofo. None of them have been studied better than here.

Manta rays live in warm seas. The points on the map are concentrated at East Coast Australia, in the Pacific archipelagos, off the coast of California and in the Caribbean Sea. But most of them are in Indian Ocean: off the East Coast of Africa, as well as off the coast of Thailand and Indonesia. How many manta rays live in the world's oceans? What are average duration their lives and habits? Science does not yet have a clear answer to all these questions.

Andrea Marshall was the first to describe the mating ritual of manta rays. During the breeding season, each female is relentlessly followed by up to 20 males. They, like a living train, repeat her every maneuver, until finally the female chooses one male. Pregnancy in manta rays lasts about a year, the female gives birth to one fry, the span of which reaches one and a half meters. From the very first minute of life, the little stingray is left to its own devices.

Relative to total body weight, manta rays have the largest brains of any fish. Many scientists believe that a gregarious lifestyle contributes to brain growth. Mantas feed in groups and swim together for “hygienic procedures” in places where cleaner fish gather. It is assumed that in flocks of manta rays there is a hierarchy between older and younger individuals. Manta rays regularly emerge from the water and splash onto the sea surface. Marshall suggests that this is how they exchange signals. She generally considers manta rays to be very sociable creatures and is sure that there are individuals among them. Some are curious and playful, others are timid and indecisive.

Based on observations of manta rays off the coast of Mozambique, an American woman is trying to uncover other secrets of their behavior. About half of the recorded stingrays live here permanently, and Marshall regularly encounters them on dives. For example, she has already seen females Compass and 50 cents dozens of times. But in her database there are another hundred individuals that she observed off the coast of Mozambique, just one at a time over eight years. Is this a coincidence?

Andrea Marshall first came to Tofo ten years ago. Then she was still a hydrobiology student in Brisbane, Australia, and was interested in underwater photography. One of her friends advised her to dive off the coast of Mozambique.

Marshall grew up near San Francisco. She received her diving certificate at age 12; By the age of 15, she had logged half a thousand scuba dives. But nowhere in the world had she seen such a rich underwater world, like off the coast of Mozambique. And most importantly, you could see stingrays here every day. At other popular dive sites, these fish must be tracked from an airplane.

Returning to Brisbane, Andrea Marshall decided to write her dissertation on manta rays. Professor Michael Bennett “looked at me like I was crazy. Of course, these animals are little studied. But there is an explanation for this: stingrays are rare, and their study is expensive pleasure. And in general: how can you write a dissertation in Africa at the age of 22?!” Marshall recalls.

But she decided to take a risk. After selling her car and furniture in Brisbane, Andrea flew to Mozambique. In the village of Tofo, she settled in a hut without water or light. The fishermen took her by boat to one of the reefs and then took her back. She was later joined by whale shark specialist Simon Pearce. But in the early years, she constantly violated the main commandment of a diver - never dive alone.

Six months have passed since arriving in Tofo. One evening, while looking through photos of stingrays, Andrea Marshall noticed something strange. Some fish seemed to her larger and darker than others. “At first I thought they were older individuals,” she says. But she soon noticed other differences. It turned out that the giant manta rays fed and swam separately from the smaller rays. In addition, she rarely came across them, unlike the smaller manta rays that she saw every day. Does this mean that rays - like killer whales - are divided into two groups: sedentary and migratory? Over time, another possible explanation occurred to her.

A year and a half later, Andrea returned to Brisbane and shared a theory with her professor: there are two types of manta rays. “He didn’t even listen, but my other observations impressed him.” The dissertation topic was approved.

Andrea Marshall consulted five other stingray experts, but none of them supported her hypothesis. Manta rays are distributed almost throughout the world, and geographic isolation contributes to the formation of new biological species. It was unlikely that two species would have evolved in the absence of natural barriers, they argued. In addition, a comparative DNA analysis of manta rays did not reveal any differences. This is another argument against her theory.

It starts to bake at seven in the morning. Marshall looks out to sea from the shore. For the fourth day now, a long green cloud of phytoplankton has been stretching along the southern coast of Mozambique. These microscopic algae are at the beginning of the food chain of the World Ocean. We must wait for the wind to change and carry this thicket out of the bay into the open sea. IN muddy water it is difficult to track down her charges.

Marshall decides to try his luck. The day before, a group of divers noticed huge manta rays underwater. A researcher wants to install a satellite transmitter on one of the fish. She attaches miniature acoustic radio transmitters to the skin of smaller manta rays. When a tagged stingray swims within 500 meters of a radio receiver, its transmitter signals are picked up and recorded. Marshall installed 12 radios along the 100-kilometer coastline in Tofo Bay. This way she can determine where the mantas swim most often.

But acoustic transmitters are not suitable for tracking migrating manta rays. Marshall considers those stingrays that she has met only once to be migratory. They appear as if from nowhere, spend a day or two in the bay and disappear. Where are they going? Where do they mate and produce offspring?

The researcher is trying to prove that giant manta rays roam the World Ocean in search of food. It has already equipped nine such stingrays with 20-centimeter satellite transmitters. Every time a manta ray comes to the surface, the device transmits the coordinates of the fish to the satellite. Each transmitter costs $5,000. And it is often lost a few months after installation.

The GPS navigator signals your arrival at given point. Andrea Marshall and Simon Pearce don scuba gear, take a camera and a meter-long copper spike to implant transmitters, and dive into the sea. The current here is strong, visibility in the muddy water is limited. The underwater landscape with corals, crevices and caves seems to be covered in a veil. Scuba divers swim past reticulated moray eels, radiant lionfish and impressive potato grouper. And suddenly they stop.

To prove the existence of a new biological species, we need strong arguments. One of the main criteria is external differences. Biologists describe in detail the shape and structure of the animal’s body, its organs, coloring and lifestyle. This description is almost always accompanied by genetic analysis data.

In 2007, Marshall did without them. By then, she had been studying manta rays off the coast of Mozambique for almost five years, having completed 1,300 dives. She traveled to Mexico, Thailand and Ecuador to research local manta populations. More and more points appeared on her map. She marked the habitats of small mantas in red, and the habitats of giant mantas in blue. But her hypothesis about the existence of two species of these fish remained unconfirmed.

In May 2007, she went to Indonesia, where industrial fishing is carried out off the coast of the island of Lombok. giant manta rays. She needed one specimen for anatomical research. At a local market, with the help of fishermen, she turned over the carcass of a stingray and noticed a protrusion at the base of the tail. She carefully cut the skin. And she was stunned.

Our ancestors had a manta ray on their tail poisonous thorn; in some species of stingrays it is still preserved. And among manta rays it disappeared during evolution. So, in any case, scientists thought. Small manta rays really don't have it. But sticking out of the tail bones of a giant manta ray at a market on the island of Lombok was... a sharp protrusion several millimeters long - a miniature spike. “Finally, I found a 100% anatomical difference!” - says Marshall.

The luck continued. Marshall named the first two giant manta rays for which she installed satellite transmitters after the great navigators Cook and Magellan. Cook lost the transmitter three weeks later, but Magellan sailed 1,100 kilometers south along the coast of Mozambique in two months and lost the transmitter just past Durban (South Africa). This confirmed Marshall's assumption that giant manta rays are "ocean wanderers." The results of genetic tests proved her right. There are actually two types of manta rays in the world.

In July 2008, Andrea Marshall presented a report on her many years of research at the Congress of Hydrobiologists in Canada. The genus "manta", she declared, includes two species - the giant manta (manta birostris) and the smaller reef manta (manta alfredi). After her speech, silence fell in the hall.

With her hair wet from her dive, Andrea Marshall sits down at the table. Today's searches were fruitless; he and Pierce did not find a single “giant” under water. But fate is already throwing the researcher new challenge. Andrea takes out a world map. Recently, along with red and blue dots, yellow marks have appeared on it. They are concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

One day, on the Internet, she found a photo of a stingray that may be a representative of a third species of manta, Marshall says. “I saw a photo of a manta ray and thought: wow, I don’t know one like that!”

“Blanket” or “cloak” is how the Spanish word “scat” is translated. Sea devil is another name for this majestic and absolutely safe animal.

Taxonomy of manta rays

Manta ray - sea devil

Manta rays belong to the order Dasyatiformes tail-shaped (according to other sources - to the order of eagle rays - Myliobatidae). In the genus Manta, they are the only species of the manta family. Systematic scientists have not yet come to a single opinion about the presence of some orders of stingrays. Some sources indicate the existence of a detachment of eagle rays, including the stingray family, others distinguish them in separate family. However, this is already the sphere of research of scientific specialists.

Appearance of the manto ray sea devil

The elegance and plasticity of the movement of the stingray evokes admiration, as if it were soaring like a magic flying carpet. sea ​​depths. Manta rays (Manta birostris) are the most famous to science. Its size and amazing appearance have led to the creation of legends and stories about this extraordinary fish.

A group of manta rays following plankton

At birth, the manta reaches more than one and a half meters in fin span, and when it grows, it can reach 8 meters and weigh more than 2 tons. It should be noted that the manta ray is not the largest species of ray, the primacy is occupied by the saw-tailed ray, the size of which reaches 7.6 m from the tips of the snout and tail. Due to the scope and massiveness of the manta's wings and fins, biologists consider it the largest stingray, a real sea giant.

The appearance of stingrays is unique; their body looks like a diamond-shaped carpet: black on top and bright white on the ventral side. Wide wing-fins, a short whip-shaped tail and the tips of the pectoral fins on the head in the form of horns, with which the stingray increases the flow of water into the oral cavity.

The manta ray is simply a giant for scuba divers, but absolutely safe for them

Is the Devil Manto dangerous for humans?

The frightening appearance of manta rays due to their size and “horns” is deceptive; stingrays are safe for humans. However, even a slight flap of the wing fins can seriously injure a person. In former times, there were tales about the bloodthirstiness of manta rays. It was believed that he could grab a person, strangle him and eat him. But manta rays are not among the species of aggressive marine animals and never attack people.

Features of the manta ray

On their way to collect plankton, stingrays can travel thousands of kilometers.

Stingrays live in warm waters all oceans except the Arctic. They are more often found in the Indian Ocean, where they form entire schools. They usually hover in the water column, absorbing the plankton harvest, and often rest near the surface, exposing the tips of their pectoral fins to the surface.

Interestingly, manta rays are the most “brainy” fish in the World Ocean. Specific gravity manta ray brain (relative to body weight) is the largest of the known to science fish It is possible that manta rays are the most “smart” fish on Earth.

Large manta rays have practically no predators; only parasites cause serious trouble, causing itching and pain by eating flesh. Small individuals often become victims of sharks and other sea ​​predators. Due to the low speed of the manta, no more than 20 km/h,

The manta ray or giant sea devil is a species of stingray of the genus of the same name in the eagle family of the caudal-shaped order, a superorder of stingrays. Representatives of the subfamily Mobulinae, which includes manta rays, are the only vertebrates that have three pairs of functioning limbs. This is the largest of the stingrays, the body width of individual individuals reaches 9.1 m (in the bulk 4-4.5 meters), and the mass of large specimens is up to 3 tons.

Translated from Spanish The name of this fish is translated as “cloak” or “blanket”. And indeed, floating in the depths clear water The manta ray is very reminiscent of a kind of flying carpet, elegantly and majestically soaring in the sky.

Manta is one of the most known species stingrays It owes its fame, first of all, to its enormous size and amazing appearance, which have given rise to various legends, stories and fables about this amazing fish since ancient times.

The appearance and size of the manta ray are truly unique. Even a newborn baby bird reaches more than 150 cm in fin span, and an adult can reach a wingspan of almost 8 m and weighs more than 2 tons! This is a real sea giant.

To be fair, it should be said that the manta ray is not the record holder among stingrays in terms of body length - the “podium” in this competition is occupied by saw-tailed stingrays, some species of which reach 7.6 m from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail. The manta's body does not grow longer than the 2 meter mark. But thanks to the massiveness and breadth of the wing-fin span, the manta ray, according to the unanimous opinion of biologists, is considered the largest stingray known to science.

The appearance of this fish does not allow it to be confused with any other stingray or marine animal. Her body resembles a diamond-shaped carpet, black on top and snow-white on the ventral side. Wide wings formed by the pectoral fins, a whip-shaped short tail, and characteristic horns on the head formed by the anterior tips of the pectoral fins. With these horns, the stingray increases the flow of water into the cavity of its huge mouth. Why does the manta need increased water circulation in its mouth? Yes, for the simple reason that these rays are planktivorous marine animals, like whales, cetaceans and giant sharks. Even the manta's mouth is shaped like a mouth whale shark, differing, however, in the structure of the dental apparatus.

The ability of sea devils to jump out of the water is well known. At the same time, they can rise 1.5 m above its surface. The sound of a large specimen falling on the water is heard like thunder and can be heard for several miles. Manta rays are completely safe for humans because they are not aggressive. However, touching her skin, which is covered with small spines, is fraught with bruises and abrasions.

On their way to collect plankton, stingrays can travel thousands of kilometers. Stingrays live in the warm waters of all oceans except the Arctic Ocean. They are more often found in the Indian Ocean, where they form entire schools. They usually hover in the water column, absorbing plankton crops, and often rest near the surface, exposing the tips of their pectoral fins to the surface.

Mantas swim by flapping their pectoral fins like wings. In the open sea they move at a constant speed in a straight line, and near the shore they often bask on the surface of the water or lazily circle. They are found both singly and in groups of up to 30 individuals. They are often accompanied by other fish, as well as seabirds.

Interestingly, manta rays are the most “brainy” fish in the World Ocean. The specific gravity of the manta's brain (relative to body weight) is the largest fish known to science. It is possible that manta rays are the most “smart” fish on Earth.

Main danger for the manta ray represents man. Stingray meat is tasty and the liver is rich in fat. Therefore, in their habitats, artisanal fishermen and sports fishermen hunt mantas. It’s not easy to get a huge fish out of the water, so it’s prestigious. This is causing manta ray numbers to decline, causing concern among conservationists. Currently, work is underway on artificial breeding these animals are in captivity. In 2007, a baby manta ray was born for the first time at the Okinawa Aquarium (Japan).

One of the largest and legendary creatures of the underwater kingdom is the “sea devil” fish. It is smaller in size than some whales, but not a single larger representative of this superclass of aquatic vertebrates has been found in the depths of the seas and oceans. And it has held the championship in myths and superstitions, debunked only recently, for many centuries.

Discovery of the "sea devil"

This animal was first described and named by Johann Walbaum, a German zoologist, doctor and naturalist. He called him Raja birostris; and this happened, by historical standards, not so long ago - in 1792. It should be noted that the history of these is the most intricate and vague, compared to other living beings: over two centuries they were given 25 species “names” and a dozen generic ones. IN modern science The name Manta birostris is recognized. Until recently, it was believed that the sea devil fish was the only representative of the giant manta rays. However, in 2009, another species was isolated, Manta alfredi, which has significant differences in appearance, both in development and morphology, but similar in size, nutrition and lifestyle.

Legends and myths

The sea devil fish (photo above) got its nickname because of the peculiar shape of its head fins - with them it directs food into its mouth. From the outside they look like horns; and given the considerable size of the individual, it is not surprising that it inspired terror sea ​​travelers. Europeans who sailed in tropical waters, believed that if you anger the devil fish, it will sink the ship, and will chase it with unquenchable anger and persistence. In southeast Asia, meeting a manta ray meant (and still means) imminent troubles and big troubles. There was an opinion that the huge flat body serves the manta to envelop the unfortunate prey in order to absorb it (according to another version, crush it if a person has offended the monster in some way).

Sea devil fish: description

The stingray is huge, diamond-shaped pectoral fins- in large specimens their span reaches seven meters. In front they turn into head fins, between which there is a wide mouth. The eyes are located on the sides, and the gills - in the form of slits - are located on the bottom of the head. The back of the sea devil is dark (black or thick gray), the belly is light. Moreover, there must be a scattering of stains on it. It is noteworthy that their number and location are strictly individual - like a person’s fingerprints. As for the weight, a large individual sometimes reaches two and a half tons...

Life in the ocean

No matter what they say, no matter what scary stories No matter what you imagined, the sea devil fish feeds like whales - plankton and small crustaceans. For this purpose her mouth is equipped special apparatus for straining food, consisting of gill plates. Considering the size of the manta, it is not surprising that it is forced to eat almost continuously.

The natural enemies of these creatures are killer whales and big sharks. They attack adults only if they are wounded and sick, but they actively hunt for cubs.

Unlike most, mantas are inhabitants of the upper water layers. They never descend to great depths.

Reproduction of manta rays

To procreate, giant stingrays swim to the shores of Mozambique. Their mating season is in November. At this time, dozens of representatives of the “sea devil” species can be observed there. Descriptions of their courtship, provided by many ocean scientists and amateur divers, characterize this process as a very beautiful spectacle. Males follow a whole line of females who are ready to conceive, and at high speeds, usually not typical for manta rays. The female "sea devil" gives birth to only one offspring; Cases of twins are very rare. In the initial stages after hatching, the baby remains inside the mother and feeds. After birth, the sea devil fish is a meter and a quarter long and weighs about ten kilograms. A newborn baby follows its mother everywhere. The female gives birth to offspring irregularly - there are breaks at two and three years.

Danger of extinction

As already mentioned, the sea devil fish has no serious natural enemies. But for her the person is mortally dangerous. Its meat and liver are considered a culinary delicacy, and among the Chinese they are also widely used in medicine. It is Chinese fishermen who actively exterminate devilfish when they visit the Mozambique coast in November. Considering how slowly the giant rays reproduce, and the fact that this is the place they choose for mating, it can be argued that until the waters near Mozambique become protected, the threat of extermination of manta rays will not disappear.

Mysteries of the "sea devil"

Despite the fact that the sea devil fish is being actively studied, not all of its secrets have been revealed by scientists. First of all, no one can say why they get married near Mozambique and where they go after. Working stingrays are essentially migrants and simply “travel” wherever they look.

No less a mystery remains their habit of jumping out of the water and falling back with a fountain of splashes. Various scientists have put forward several versions on this matter:

Which of the hypotheses is correct may become known in the future, of course, if humanity does not relegate this creature to the category of extinct.

The manta ray gained worldwide fame due to its enormous size. In the widest part of the body - from one tip of the fin to the other - it can reach 7 meters. Moreover, its weight is about 2 tons.

Manta rays live in all warm seas and tropical waters of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, including the Mediterranean Sea.

The manta received its second name, “sea devil,” for its head fins located along the edges of the mouth. While swimming, they curl into a tube and become like horns. These fins are necessary for the stingray to hunt. While swimming, he directs a stream of water rich in plankton and small fish into his mouth.

"Horns"

They travel long distances in search of food. Like, which, by the way, is its closest relative, manta rays suck in water and pass it through many gill plates. After filtration, plankton and small fish remain on them. Then the entire catch is sent to the stomach.

Bottom view

Manta rays, unlike other rays, spend most of their lives in upper layers open sea. Their swimming is mesmerizing. It can be compared to the soaring flight of a huge bird in the air. The movements of its huge ventral fins are so smooth and proportionate. Sometimes sea devils can be seen lying on the surface of the water.

In the habitats or migrations of these animals, sometimes an incredible spectacle unfolds above the surface of the water - these giants quickly jumping out of the water and a deafening landing with a fountain of splashes. Sometimes the roar from these jumps can be heard several kilometers away. No one can say for sure what the purpose of these jumps is, but there is an assumption that in this way they attract partners or stun schools of small fish.

In these places you need to be careful not to swim close to their flock, as one of them can accidentally fall on a small boat and sink it. This is the only threat that can come from this underwater inhabitant.

One of these cases occurred quite recently - at the end of March this year, when, while on vacation in Florida, a small yacht, which was rented by a married couple with children, jumped giant stingray and pressed the woman with all his weight. But everything ended well. The victim escaped with fear and a couple of bruises, and the stingray was released back into the sea.

Previously, people believed that the stingray specifically attacked divers, wrapping them with its huge fins, like a cloak, and dragging them to the bottom. By the way, it is for this reason that the stingray got its name “manta,” which is translated from Spanish as “cloak.”

Small flock of stingrays

The discovery of this animal occurred in 1792 and it belongs to Johann Julius Walbaum - to a German doctor, naturalist, zoologist and taxonomist.

Little is known about the reproduction process of these stingrays. The female brings one cub about 125 cm wide and weighing 10 kg. While he is in the womb, he feeds on her milk. Childbirth occurs very quickly. The baby, one might say, flies out of the mother’s womb, curled up into a tube. Then he spreads his fins and, together with the female, goes on a journey around the world.

These stingrays, despite their size, are quite vulnerable, especially the young ones. They do not have a single serious means of defense against their main enemies - sharks. They rarely attack adults, but they often have to be driven away from the young.

Manta rays are very curious, beautiful and non-aggressive animals, which arouse genuine interest among divers. Many of them dream of swimming next to these underwater inhabitants and someone succeeds.