Oceanic Manta Rays

The ocean is full of strange and mysterious creatures. This is why there are varied fields of study involving the ocean and the life teeming within it. Marine biology is one of the largest fields and has a broad spectrum of specimens to study. Manta rays, a well-known animal, have become a popular topic in the field of marine biology research.

A trendy subtopic is that of the brain to body size ratio of the manta. Complex social behaviors of these animals has also become a prominent feature to research.(Stevens)

In the past fifteen years, the study of oceanic manta rays’ brains and social behavior has changed drastically from simply evaluating their population to attempting to measure their cognitive intelligence and how it contributes to their

Due to the drop in their numbers, countries began to pass laws to protect and help conserve these animals. Mexico passed such a law prohibiting the catching and hunting of mantas in 1994.(Kashiwagi) Up until 2009, marine biologists thought that there were only one genus in the Mobulidae family.(Kashiwagi) They reclassified a split in the genus which included manta rays in one while the other included devil rays. The reason for the separation is due to slight behavioral and anatomical differences. The manta rays, at this point in time, are still mysterious animals. By 2010, the population was still in decline. That year, manta rays alone contributed $8.1 billion to the world economy.(Kashiwagi) The gill plates of the mantas are most commonly the only part of the manta that is utilized since they are sold to the

Chinese for traditional medicinal uses.(Marshall) They are rarely sold in the Indo-Pacific for food purposes. Also in 2010, a study was done on the social and reproductive behaviors of mantas.(Jacoby) It was one of the first studies done on manta’s social behavior. This study suggested that manta rays travelled alone and only gathered in groups in breeding

Scientists realized that manta rays could possibly be more intelligent than what people originally gave them credit for. Due to this discovery, biologists began to wonder whether mantas have cognitive skills similar to that of a mammal’s and if so, just how intelligent are they. A study was started in 2013 in which marine biologists set out to discover how bright these creatures are. Guy Stevens, a famous marine biologist, is heading the field research team. He and his team have, so far, discovered that their social behavior is far more complicated than originally believed. Mantas have been thought to be solitary and shy creatures but the data collected by Stevens and his team counters these assumptions.(Stevens) When Guy and his divers encountered mantas in the field, there were almost always more than two and the mantas seemed curious about the divers.

(Stevens) In some cases the mantas displayed their curiosity by approaching the divers and on more than one occasion, they circled the divers the way they do when they interact with their own kind. When manta rays gather for breeding purposes, their communication is complicated and detailed. Their mannerisms are different from