This means they need to keep water flowing through their gills for their entire life. Manta rays are creatures of perpetual motion. You will rarely see them though because they tend to wander around the open ocean. They get up to a staggering 22 feet across. Believe it or not, these aren’t the biggest of the manta rays.
Every foot of a manta ray weighs approx 70-100 pounds. These guys are HUGE! A fully grown Alfredi manta ray, which are the ones you see in Hawaii, can have a wingspan up to 12-14 feet wide. The newborn then begins its journey to becoming one of the biggest fish in the ocean. Immediately after birth, the mom and baby part ways.
#Mother and baby manta ray how to
They are born knowing fully how to be a manta ray. When mantas ray pups are born they are all wrapped up in their little wings like an adorable little manta “burrito”. Their main predators in the wild are large sharks, killer whales, and false killer whales. This slow reproduction rate doesn’t do a lot to help the numbers of manta rays in the ocean. After birth, in the wild, manta rays can live between 40-80 years. Females usually give birth to 1 or maybe 2 rays at a time. A manta ray takes between 10 – 15 years to reach sexual maturity, and can only have pups every 4 years. They have a gestation period that lasts 13 months. This means that the females produce eggs, but instead of laying the eggs, the eggs develop within the mother’s body. While other rays dig or burrow in the sand to hide from predators, manta ray only goes down there to get cleaned. Pretty much all of the fish in this category are flat fish that like to stay close to the floor of the ocean. This is due to the fact that both of their skeletons are made out of cartilage instead of bone. They are actually related to sharks because both of them are part of the Elasmobranchii subclass.
Manta Rays are actually considered fish just like salmon and trout, but they also find themselves in several other unique categories.
If you want to have a personal encounter with them, you can always schedule a snorkeling or diving tour to see them in person. Here are some interesting facts about these gentle giant, the Manta Ray. Once you see these giant creatures, you will see why that nickname is very apparent. The word “Manta” is a Spanish word which translates to “cloak”.
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