Scientific name: manta ray

Manta ray (Mobulidae; devil rays). It belongs to the order Chondrichthyes, family Mobulidae, and it contains two genera, the pre-mouth manta rays and the manta rays. The body is diamond-shaped, more than 6m wide. The body is greenish brown. Button section is large. The eyes are lateralized and can look sideways and down. There is 1 pair of cephalic fins on the side of the head with pectoral fins differentiated and protruding forward. Dorsal fins small, pectoral fins wing-like. Tail slender and whip-like, with caudal spines. Normally benthic, but sometimes rise to the surface to swim, and do long-distance migration, agile. Feeds on planktonic crustaceans and small fish. Eggs are viviparous. Distributed in tropical and temperate zones, in China found in the East China Sea, South China Sea and off Taiwan. Common species include the Japanese manta ray (Mobula japonica) and the double-snouted pre-mouth manta ray (Manta birostris). The liver is rich in fat and can be refined into fish oil.

1 Morphological features?

Manta rays swim

Manta rays (fú fèn) are generally flat[2], wider than long, up to 8 meters wide, and weigh 3,000 kg. The body disk is diamond-shaped, one end is broad and flat; the muzzle end is broad and transversely flat; the pectoral fins are long and fat like wings, and in front of the head there are two prominent cephalic fins divided from the pectoral fins, located on both sides of the head; the tail is thin and long like a whip with a small dorsal fin, and some species of tails have one or more venomous spines; the mouth is wide, anteriorly or inferiorly; the teeth are fine and numerous, nearly paving stone-like arrangement; the upper and lower jaws have dental bands, or the upper jaw is toothless; the nostrils are precisely located on both sides of the front of the mouth, and the exit pore is open at the corner of the mouth; the water outlet is open at the corner of the mouth. Outlet opening at the corner of the mouth; spout smaller, triangular, situated behind the eye, at a considerable distance from it; gill pores broad; girdle y arcuate, with a prolonged cusp in the middle. Ovipositor. Fossils are found in the Tertiary to Recent Period.

Appearance

Manta rays

On its head grow two fleshy feet, its cephalic fins, which flop forward and protrude. In English, it is wrongly referred to as the "devil fish", mainly because of its intimidating shape. Manta rays swim by flapping their triangular pectoral fins and dragging a stiff, elongated tail as if they were flying through the water. Adult manta rays can reach a length of 7 meters and weigh 5,000 kilograms, but they can make a kind of spinning jump. As it spins faster and faster, the manta ray quickly rises and jumps out of the water. Manta rays can typically jump 1.5 meters out of the water. During the breeding season, manta rays sometimes use their fins to slap the surface of the water and leap up and somersault through the air.

The smallest manta rays are the spiny manta rays (Mobula diabolis) of Australia, which are no more than 60 centimeters (2 feet) across. The pre-mouth manta ray (Manta birostris) of the Atlantic Ocean is the largest species in the family, up to 7 meters (23 feet) wide. The body is black or brown, powerful but not injurious.

Manta rays do not have a spindle-shaped body like traditional fish; they have no dorsal fins, and their broad, triangular pectoral fins and disk-like bodies form a giant, flat, flaky body that resembles a "kite in the sea". Their skin is far from smooth to the touch, mostly black or grayish-blue on the back, and grayish-white with scattered dark spots on the belly. The huge pectoral fins are similar in form and function to the wings of a bird, and the distance between the two pectoral fins is called the "wingspan," which is the width of the body, and is longer than the length of the body, which is a measure of the size of the manta ray and the identification of the species.

Characteristics

Manta rays

The manta ray is the largest of the rays. Although it is not aggressive, it is powerful enough to destroy small boats when disturbed. Its size and strength often make divers afraid, because once it started to anger, just with its powerful "wings" a beat, will be touched to break the bones of people, to the death. Manta rays also have very strange habits. It is lively and often plays pranks. Sometimes it intentionally swims to the bottom of the boat sailing in the sea, with the body wing knocking the bottom of the boat, making "whirring, popping" sound, so that people on board the boat alarmed; sometimes it runs to the side of the boat moored in the sea, the meat angle hanging on the boat's anchor chain, pulling up the small iron anchors, so that people do not know what to do; or it is using the head of the fins to hang themselves on the boat's anchor chain. The manta rays are also known as "devil rays", which are actually the devil rays of the manta rays, and they are also known as "devil rays".

The "tail" of manta rays (devil fish) or a weak current, but there is no poison, while the "tail" of the stingray, which is somewhat similar in form, is highly toxic, so pay attention to the distinction to avoid misunderstanding.

2 Habitat?

Leaping

Manta rays are a kind of cartilaginous fish living in the bottom of tropical and subtropical waters, locally known as the "underwater devil", but in fact, manta rays are a very gentle animal. They feed mainly on plankton and small fish, and often cruise around coral reefs for food.[3] It is a very gentle animal. [3] It swims lazily through the sea with large, slowly flapping wings, and uses its front fins and fleshy horns to flick plankton and other tiny creatures into its large mouth. When swimming, the cephalic fin curls outward from below into an angular shape toward the front; it sometimes swims in groups, with males and females often traveling together. Feeds primarily on planktonic crustaceans, and secondarily on schools of small fish. Gill rakers are much keratinized, a series of feathery sieve plates, play a role in filtering water to retain food.

While reef areas like the Coral Triangle make up only a tiny fraction of the global ocean, they are home to a quarter of the world's marine life, such as these manta rays. Manta rays are the largest members of the ray family, and they typically feed on creatures around coral reefs.

One of the manta ray's most distinctive habits is its "out of the sky" leap!

Fantastic behavior

Scientists have observed that manta rays need to make a series of preparations before leaping out of the sea: they rise in a rotating motion, and as they approach the surface, they rev up and swim faster and faster until they leap out of the water, sometimes accompanied by a beautiful flip. At its highest, it can jump 1.5-4 meters high, and when it falls into the water, it makes a loud bang, a beautiful and spectacular scene. The "devil fish" jumps more than 3 meters out of the water. Thousands of "devil fish" collective leap in the air, down after hitting the surface of the water, the splash of thunder, like a rainstorm landing. [5]

The manta ray's gliding is sometimes for the only son to be deceived, sometimes by the enemy's pursuit, and sometimes it may be the body of parasites in the trouble, it was tortured to bear.

The female manta ray is very protective of her only child. It's not like other fish that spawn thousands and thousands of eggs at a time, like the tumbler fish, which can be considered the most prolific of fish, spawning up to 300 million eggs at a time. Female manta rays do not lay eggs, they are oviparous, another rare event among fish. She only gives birth to one baby at a time, so it's no wonder she has to pamper her only child.

The baby manta ray weighs 20 kilograms and is about a meter long, so if you don't know what this fish is like, you might think it's a big fish, but in fact, it's still a newborn baby.

Fierce sharks also let it three points

According to experts, manta rays have been in the ocean for 100 million years, as a representative of the original fish, although they are big guys, but they are mainly plankton and small fish for food, often in the vicinity of the coral reefs cruising for food and mild temperament. Although they are not aggressive, they are powerful enough to destroy small boats when disturbed.

3 How does it grow and reproduce?

Breeding season for manta rays occurs between December and April. At this time, when the water temperature in tropical waters is between 26-29 degrees Celsius, manta rays begin to appear in groups in shallow waters, usually with several smaller males trailing behind larger females, swimming slightly faster than usual. After a 20-30 minute chase, the females slow down and the males swim under their lovers and "caress" them with their pectoral fins. After a brief mating session, the male leaves and the process is repeated with the second suitor. However, female manta rays will only take on a maximum of two "lovers" - 1-2 fertilized eggs develop inside the female and hatch out into young, and after about 13 months, the baby rays emerge directly from the mother's body and are soon able to swim freely and go off on their own. Baby manta rays reach sexual maturity at the age of 5, and those of the right age can then continue their genes: they live for about 20 years.

4 Population Distribution

Manta rays

Manta rays derive their name from the Spanish word "manta", which means blanket, as you can see from their size. It is also known as the manta ray because of its elegant and graceful behavior in the sea, similar to that of a bat flying in the night sky. People who see manta rays for the first time are always overwhelmed by their "alien" appearance, which is difficult to associate with the orthodox fish. In fact, this ancient fish has been in the oceans since the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic Era, and its size has changed little in more than 100 million years. Taxonomically, manta rays and sharks are most closely related, belonging to the same cartilaginous fish order, a single family of manta rays, with 3 genera and 13 species existing in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans between 35 degrees north and south latitude. Four species can be found in the waters of eastern and southern China: the double-snouted manta rays, Japanese manta rays, Taiwan manta rays and stingless manta rays.

Manta rays mainly inhabit shallow tropical and subtropical waters, and are less likely to stay or roost on the sea floor, where they can be found from surface waters close to the coast to depths of up to 120 meters.

Certain species can be seen in China around Fujian, Zhejiang and the Yellow Sea. Because of their migratory habits, they are not seen year-round in one place. Every year in June to July in Fujian, Zhejiang coast, August to September and then to the Yellow Sea. October to November and then back to the coast of Zhejiang, December to the next year in February to March along the original route migrate south.