Seeing ocean giants such as manta rays should be a heartwarming experience, but scuba divers in Bali had a sad encounter when they came across a ray with serious injuries.
“We came across a manta ray with a large injury to its back end, most likely from a predator such as a shark, although we can’t be 100% sure,” says Scuba Junkie Penida, who shared the footage (with a sensitivity warning) on Instagram.
“It’s never easy to see something like this, but it’s also a reminder that this is the reality of life in the ocean,” they add. “Even animals as calm and graceful as mantas are part of a much bigger food chain.”
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The manta was spotted at Manta Point dive site in Nusa Penida, Indonesia, with its tail and a large chunk of its body missing. This dive site is known for its regular visits from reef manta rays who come to clean, socialise and for courtship.
Scientists from Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF) checked the Manta Matcher database and confirmed that the ray was an adult male called Eldrador. The last time he was seen, in September 2025, he was in one piece. The MMF team reportedly agreed that this catastrophic injury looked like it was caused by a shark bite.
“In many cases like this, there’s usually unfortunately very little we can do,” says Scuba Junkie Penida, encouraging divers to upload their manta sightings to MantaMatcher. "Documenting and sharing sightings like this plays an important role in understanding manta populations and their lives in the wild.”
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The outlook for this individual is unclear but bleak. “Mantas can recover from some pretty terrible injuries and this one does not seem to be a super regular individual at our sites, so you never know,” adds Dani from Scuba Junkie Penida. “But he was in pretty bad shape.”
Eldrador – who also has an older, healed bite wound on his left hand side, has not yet been seen since this footage was taken in late March 2026.
Warning: This video contains footage some viewers may find distressing.
Image and video credit: Efra Manopo (instructor at Scuba Junkie Penida)
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