Ever since I was little, I have been diagnosed as gifted. In my school’s gifted program, we participated in the AGLOA Academic Games. I was able to make it to the national competition multiple times and one year the national competition was held in Atlanta, Georgia. Besides the Academic Games, there was one experience I was stoked about: going to the Georgia Aquarium, the United State’s largest aquarium. There were so many different and unique exhibits there and I can go on and on about each and every exhibit (I’ll mention an experience at this aquarium in a later blog post) but, I will not drone on about those experiences in this post. One of the various creatures I met at the Georgia Aquarium were manta rays! I was in awe by everything the manta ray represented: beauty, elegance, smoothness, and tranquility. If you see how they swim, I think you would also agree with those characteristics. Safe to say, the manta rays got me quite excited. I am going to delve into some facts about the manta ray (specifically the Giant Oceanic Manta Ray) in order to make you all as excited about these beautiful creatures as 14 year old me was.

Let’s start with their names. I’m sure we are all familiar with the term ray (think of a stingray) but what does manta mean? Turns out, manta is Spanish for blanket; these guys are blanket rays! It’s pretty straightforward to see how they got this adorable name: their gargantuan size and flat shape. Some species of manta rays are smaller or bigger than others, however, they all have the same general shape: A long flat body with long flat fins at either side. Their wingspan (or maybe we can call it finspan in this case) can be up to 23 feet and they can weigh up to 4,000 pounds! Connected to their colossal bodies, is the manta ray’s tail. Their tail is not barbed like a stingray’s tail is, so the manta ray’s tail is perfectly safe. In fact, manta rays are very safe to be around; they do not eat fish and don’t even have teeth! Similar to whales, manta rays are filter feeders. They feed primarily on tiny little organisms called plankton. In order to feed on these microorganisms, they use their two cephalic fins (can also be called cephalic lobes, cephalic horns, or devil horns) to push the plankton into their mouths. These fins—or horns—are what earned manta rays a common nickname for them: the devilfish. I think this nickname is completely underserving. I mean just look at these guys! They’re so cute and elegant!

Not only are manta rays cute and elegant, but they are also extremely intelligent. Manta rays have the largest brain of any fish so they are definitely some smart cookies! Their brains have particularly developed areas for problem solving, learning, and communicating. Some even show signs of self-awareness like being able to recognize themselves in mirrors, a trait only shared between a few select mammals, humans, and the manta ray. Manta rays also share another trait with human beings: uniqueness. No two humans are alike, especially when it comes down to their fingerprints. Like humans’ fingerprints, the underside of a manta ray has markings unique to that specific manta ray. Despite all these incredible features of the manta ray, there is some unfortunate news; manta rays have recently been declared as endangered. This is mostly due to overfishing combined with their slow reproduction rate. However, there is a silver lining! Many countries have enacted protection plans for manta rays like regulations to their fishing, requiring a license to trade harvested parts of manta rays, and many other laws and regulations. Hopefully, their protection will continue to increase so their numbers could start to increase. These manta rays are truly too amazing to go extinct.