Giant manta

Scott Duncan

Dive Ninja Expeditions founder Jay Clue takes us on a journey into the vital conservation of Mexico’s mobula ray aggregations.

Last month, Indonesia established the world’s largest sanctuary for manta rays -- those enormous, finned fortresses that can reach nearly 30 feet across. For the first time, manta ray hunting and export is banned within the entire 2.3 million square miles of Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone.

The largest of the all ray species, the giant manta ray will be found gliding through temperate, tropical and sub-tropical oceans.

The Giant Oceanic Manta Ray (Mobula birostris) is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae, and the largest type of ray in the world. They are circumglobal and are typically found in tropical and subtropical waters, but can also be found in temperate waters. Until 2017, giant mantas were classified in the genus Manta, along with the smaller reef manta (Mobula alfredi). DNA testing revealed that both species are more closely related to rays of the genus Mobula than previously thought. As a…