Last Update : Friday 24 August, 2001 2:40 PM

		Illust : Anuwat Saisaeng

Manta Ray
Scientific name	Manta birostris
Common name	Manta Ray
Size	6.7 meters wide
Dispersion	Andaman Sea, Gulf of Thailand
Area found	Fish in the middle of water, found around ¡Í§ËÔ¹ or islands in the deep sea.
Depth	1 – 35 meters
Feed on	Plankton
Situation	Can be found in some spot like Tachai Island, Bon Island etc. There is no clear information on quantity.
Conservation	Used to have problems about being strung to death by buoy string or fish-trap string.
Fish Tip	Scream allowed if spotted. Swimming after him is also permitted. But do not touch, hold or perch him lest he migrates and you cannot find him again.

 

         This Fish of the week is the largest ray in the world. He is one of the two big brothers of the Thai Sea, grand enough to make every body shocked. Just a sight of him makes people swim after like mad. The important thing is that no one can tell when he goes or comes. Some people has been in the water for hundreds of dives and never met him yet. Some met him on the first dive.

         Manta is the fish in the middle of the water, swims consecutively. Part of the pelvic fin has specially developed to be cephalic flippers stemming from two sides of the mouth. The flippers can be rolled into cylindrical shape and unrolled. The flippers are used to adjust water direction into the mouth. Plankton will float in to be filtered at the special gill raker at the gill area before being consumed. Manta does not hunt other fish for food. He does not eat all the time either. He just eats some of the time.

         With large body size and speed next to rocket, manta ray has few natural enemies. They do not have barbs to protect themselves. Their only enemy in the Thai Sea that I can think of is killer whale and False killer whale. But I have no evidence. I used to see the photograph of orga eating manta. That was in overseas country.

         Manta will come near to the coral reef for many reasons such as having parasites cleared by cleaner wrasse, searching for food where plankton is plenty or come in just like that. Some times they speed away on the sight of man. Some times they just swim around for hours. It is quite difficult to please them.

         Points where manta can be spotted regularly are “Bon Island”, “Tachai Island”, “Losin” and “Sail rock” (Pa-Ngan Island). Nowadays, the up-and-coming manta spotting point is “Torinla Island”. I meet one here almost every time, swimming by back and forth. Probability of spotting him is so high for the whole season. Tourists also spot him even when snorkeling. But this particular manta does not like to play around with people. He budges in and shoots out very quickly. People have never seen him long.

         For the story of manta ray, we have abundance of information and photographs. For further reading please click “Combat Manta Ray”. For photographs of manta ray we have Wallpaper at your service. Quite nice photos.

You are invited to vote for fish of the week.

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