Threats and PredatorsĪs with most, if not all, endangered animal species, the giant manta ray’s biggest threat is human activity. Also, giant manta rays will eat small fish and shellfish. More specifically, they are mostly planktivorous-that is, they eat plankton most of all. Experts don’t know the exact reason for this behavior, but they think it might be to keep prey animals as close to the feeding rays as possible. Researchers have noted that giant manta rays will swim in long ovals as they hunt and feed. At no point do giant manta rays use their teeth to eat. Prey will get caught in filtering tissues at the back of the rays’ mouths. They use their mouths and their frontal lobes to gather up prey.
Researchers have used both of these patterns (or lack thereof) to identify individual manta rays.
Sometimes, giant manta rays will have light-colored splotches on their backs, too. They have white underbellies with unique, dark splotching patterns. Giant manta rays’ backs run a gamut of colors, from brown to blue to black. They can weigh anywhere from 2643 to 3084 pounds. Giant manta rays can grow past those averages, though, with the widest one known to researchers measuring 30.3 feet. Males, meanwhile, measure 17.3 to 20.3 feet from wing to wing. Weight and Lengthįemale giant manta rays are larger than males, having a wingspan of 18.3 to 22.7 feet. While giant manta rays’ visual differences come down to a lot more than biological sex, sex is one aspect that influences each ray’s appearance. That means you can tell whether an individual giant manta ray is male or female based solely on looking at them. Giant manta rays are also sexually dimorphic. At birth, giant manta ray pups typically measure 3.7 to 4.7 feet wide. Embryonic manta rays can measure up to 50 inches wide from wing to wing, and they can weigh over 20 pounds. Even before birth, giant manta rays are just that-giant.