After 15 years of wondering, scientists have confirmed there are three species of manta ray.
Researchers have formally confirmed the Atlantic manta ray (Mobula yarae) is a distinct species from the giant or oceanic manta (Mobula birostris) and the reef manta (Mobula alfredi).
Named after Yara – a water spirit from Indigenous Brazilian mythology – these rays can be identified by their size, V-shaped shoulder patches, pale coloured face, and dark spots that are restricted to their abdomen.
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This recognition that Atlantic mantas are their own species confirms what expert Andrea Marshall has suspected for more than 15 years. When she confirmed that giant and reef mantas were separate species – way back in 2009 – she also suggested there might be a third species in the Atlantic Ocean.
In 2024, while working on the formal description, Marshall suffered a brain aneurysm and stroke and has been on extended medical leave ever since.
Brazilian researcher Nayara Bucair from the University of São Paulo and Jessica Pate, a research scientist at Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF), picked up the mantle from Marshall and completed the formal description.
“Andrea Marshall proposed this new species of manta ray over 15 years ago,” says Pate, who is also the and founder of the Florida Manta Project. “However, to formally describe a species you need to closely examine specimens, which typically means a dead animal.”
Finding the body of a dead manta ray to analyse is very rare. “There are not targeted fisheries for mantas in the Atlantic (as there are in the Indo-Pacific),” says Pate. “Also, manta rays are negatively buoyant, so they sink when they die and their body is made up of cartilage which decomposes rapidly.”
In 2017, Marshall was alerted to a manta ray specimen that had been found and the research team raced to make sure it could be preserved and scientifically analysed.
MMF has shared Marshall’s recollections of seeing the Atlantic manta ray for the first time. “It was one of the shocks of my life to jump into the warm waters off the Yucatán in Mexico about a year [after confirming giant and reef mantas were separate species] and come face to face with what I instantly knew was a third species of manta ray," she said in a social media post in 2022. “It had been pretty shocking to everyone that there were two species of manta ray and suddenly I had to argue that there were three.”
For most people, these rays look almost identical to the other species but Marshall was adamant that “this manta didn't look like either of them.” Her certainty comes down to her experience, says Pate: “Andrea was able to do it because she had spent 100s of hours carefully observing these creatures.”
Confirming this is a different species from giant and reef mantas is important for conservation this. “You can't protect what you haven't formally identified,” says Pate. “Now that we’ve proven that this Atlantic manta ray is distinct, we can tailor our research and conservation initiatives to protect the species.”
Like the other manta species, Atlantic manta rays, which are only found in the western Atlantic and Caribbean, are threatened by boat strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. “Manta rays must keep swimming in order to breathe, so if they are caught in a net for too long, they will drown,” says Pate.
The team has shared footage of manta rays that have been hit by speeding boats, including one young male with deep lacerations on his fin. Since the video was taken of his wounds, he has not been seen again.
Top image credit: Getty
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