- Group
- Shark & ray
- Habitat
- Reef
- Max size
- 5.0 m
- Family
- Mobulidae
The reef manta ray or hāhālua is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae, one of the largest rays in the world. Among generally recognized species, it is the third-largest species of ray, surpassed by the Giant oceanic manta ray and the Atlantic manta ray.
Adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Behaviour
Works a regular circuit of reef cleaning stations, hovering while wrasse pick its skin and gills -- which is what makes it findable at all.
Easily confused with
Side by side, with what tells them apart.
A devil ray is easily taken for a young manta. Kuhl's Devil Ray is small, at most 1.2 m across, with short cephalic fins, a white tip on its dorsal fin, and its mouth set underneath the head. Reef Manta Ray's mouth opens at the very front of the head, between long cephalic fins it can unroll, and adults are three to five metres across.
See the Kuhl's Devil Ray →
The two mantas overlap here and are told apart by their markings. Reef Manta Ray has pale shoulder patches that fade softly into the dark back and meet in a Y, and belly spots scattered between the gill slits. Oceanic Manta Ray is deep black above with sharp-edged white shoulder patches, a black mouth and gill slits, and belly spots clustered low on the belly. The oceanic is larger, up to 7 m across, and is met in blue water rather than at a reef cleaning station.
See the Oceanic Manta Ray →