Even when you have regular encounters with incredible marine creatures, they still have an endless capacity to surprise.
So, although dive instructor Keren Flor had seen an oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris) leave a trail of bright yellow excrement behind before, she decided to hit record on her camera when spotting this striking phenomenon on a dive near Roca Partida (part of the Revillagigedo Islands off the coast of Mexico).
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But what happened next was something entirely new.
“This was the second time I’ve seen a manta pooping, but the very first time that I’ve seen another manta scooping the poop!”
While fish such as remoras are often seen feeding on the faeces of manta rays, Flor’s video captures the moment another manta ray heads straight towards the cloud.
This behaviour hasn’t been widely observed in manta rays before, it’s thought that mantas do it because their waste is still rich in nutrients after digesting huge quantities of zooplankton and krill.
“In my group of eight divers, I was the only one who filmed this,” explains Flor. “I found it fascinating to witness a behaviour that we humans would find disgusting – all my fellow divers said ‘Ewwwww’ when they saw the video!”
Once manta rays have finished excreting, they then carry out intestinal eversions. This involves briefly squeezing their intestines out of their bodies, which flushes out any undigested bits of krill shell, as well as potential parasites.
