Overall, he hopes his research on manta “friendships” can easier connect the public to these regal creatures, and drive enthusiasm for their protection.New research by the Marine Megafauna Foundation has extended the southern range of the reef manta ray ( Mobula alfredi) in Africa, connecting the longest monitored and highly vulnerable population of reef manta rays in southern Mozambique to the UNESCO World Heritage site of iSimangaliso in South Africa. ( See the best places to spot mantas in the wild.) Reef mantas face many threats, from plastic pollution to overfishing.įor instance, the mantas’ social networks may be crucial for their reproduction or ability to find food, says Perryman.īecause it’s very popular for people to see or swim alongside manta rays, such research could inform tourism operations about more responsible practices.įor example, the data could help governments develop guidelines on the number of boats and tourists allowed in the water with mantas. Understanding this newly identified social world could help scientists better conserve the species, which is listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Manta alliances last weeks to months, not decades. ( Learn why manta rays swim in mesmerizing circles.)īoth Stewart and the study authors acknowledge that the mantas’ bonding is not the tight-knit, lifelong phenomenon that many whales experience, for example. Joshua Stewart, a conservation ecologist with the U.K.-based nonprofit Manta Trust, praised the study’s findings, but cautioned against placing our own, mammalian expectations of social behavior on the mantas. This signal may reinforce social hierarchies between mantas, or simply convey excitement, Ari says by email, noting the new study “adds a new level of understanding about the social behavior of manta rays.”Īerial footage captured a unique view of reef manta rays feeding together off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii. Mantas can also quickly brighten the white markings on their back during intense social interactions, according to Ari, who is not involved with the study. Bright and extroverted-for a fishĬsilla Ari, a behavioral neuroscientist at the University of South Florida, says the findings mesh well with her own research, which has suggested the fish are clever, interacting with their reflections in mirrors. Whether closely related rays spend more time together is one of Perryman’s future research questions. Perryman thinks that the aggregations of females might be a defense against unwanted mating attempts from males. The results revealed mantas formed two types of social circles, with mature females grouping together, and another clique consisting of males, females, and juveniles. ( Read about the discovery of a rare manta ray nursery.) Further analyzing this data, the researchers eliminated non-social reasons some mantas might congregate in specific places, such as habitat preferences. The researchers recorded 3,400 encounters with nearly 600 different mantas, plugging them into a database that logged where and which mantas were seen, and with whom. Reef mantas have patterns of unique belly spots that stay the same throughout their lives. Perryman and colleagues work in Indonesia’s hyper-diverse Raja Ampat Marine Park, a mostly undisturbed habitat where reef mantas behave naturally.ĭuring the research, the team regularly snorkelled or scuba dived to photograph and identify individual manta rays at their congregation sites. The study, one of the first to illuminate the animal’s social life in depth, also “adds to the growing evidence in recent years that sharks and rays are not the solitary, mindless, socially bereft animals that we perhaps thought them to be in the past,” he adds. “They have friends, to put it in quite an anthropomorphic way.” What’s more, their big brains-the related giant manta ray has the largest brain of all fish-hinted that reef mantas are “reasonably intelligent animals,” he says.įive years of observation and study later, the study reveals that reef mantas actively choose “to socialize with other individuals that they know, and they remember their social contact with those individuals,” says Perryman, whose study was published recently in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. ( Go inside the underwater world of manta rays with a National Geographic photographer.) Their feeding and courtship activities also occur in groups, which gave Perryman reason to suspect these animals are actually social butterflies. Sharks and rays are often perceived as cold fish, but at least one species of manta ray has a surprisingly complex social life, a new study says.Ī majestic species that can reach widths of 18 feet, reef manta rays ( Mobula alfredi) are often seen gliding over tropical reefs in large numbers, notes study leader Rob Perryman, a researcher for the Marine Megafauna Foundation.
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