Tales from the Reef: My First Oceanic Manta

I’m very happy to report that I saw my first oceanic manta a few days ago!! It was nice to see a manta at all as manta season is usually from December to April but sometimes you get the odd one passing by.

Manta rays are cartilaginous fish which means they are closely related to all other rays as well as sharks. Until quite recently there was only thought to be one species of manta ray and in 2009 they were re-classified into two separate species; the resident reef manta (Manta alfredi), and the giant oceanic manta (Manta birostris). Oceanic mantas are the bigger of the two species reaching a wing span of up to 7m while resident mantas grow to about 4m.

We were diving at Bodu hithi Reef which is an important manta spot during the season. However, we were not there to look for mantas… a tiger shark had been spotted at the same reef a few days before so although it was unlikely to see it again it was worth going to check out as you just never know. I have always wanted to see a tiger shark or any big shark will do, you probably think I’m mad, but sharks are such fascinating and impressive creatures, and well I’m bored of seeing black tips and grey reefs now… I want to see something big!!!

Well I did see something big, not a tiger shark but a 4m giant oceanic manta ray will do. I was in the middle of a fish survey which unfortunately got binned when this huge manta swam over my head. It was pretty curious and circled around us all twice while we were hovering in the blue captivated by its pure magnificance and grace. At first I was like that’s a pretty big manta and then when I looked closely I realized it was an oceanic. Although I have never seen one before I knew how to recognize the different markings on the body. Just to make sure I sent it to my friend Guy Stevens who has been researching and identifying mantas in the Maldives for over 10 years now. Oceanic mantas are not spotted too often, they spend their entire lives cruising large distances across open oceans, so he would be happy to hear about this elusive giant. You can identify each individual manta by the spot pattern on their bellies so I was interested to know whether this one had been sighted before….. and she hadn’t, she was a first sighting which is great and it means I get to name her.

She was spotted just past the cleaning station so maybe she was on her way to be cleaned!! Cleaning stations are certain areas on a reef, usually a prominent reef outcrop or coral bommie, were small cleaner fish hang out. These cleaner fish are usually members of the wrasse family. They have a very important job as they clean all the fish that come specifically to visit these stations. Obviously fish don’t have hands so they cannot clean themselves… instead these cleaner wrasse do it for them. They eat all the dead skin cells, parasites and algae that cover their clients so essentially they get a “free” meal while their clients gets cleaned. It’s almost like going to the doctors or dentist or even your local spa! In the Maldives, there are hundreds of known manta ray cleaning stations were mantas will come to visit just to be cleaned but Bodu Hithi is definitely one of the best spots were you can have a reliable encounters with these magnificent animals, and it’s only a 25 minute boat ride away :)

All of the above are photos of my first giant oceanic manta, luckily i had my camera!

A resident manta pictured above and below. You can see the different markings on the dorsal surface compared to the oceanic manta but they are quite subtle!