The iconic markings of manta rays are so distinctive that it’s possible to tell individuals apart from the fingerprint-like spots on their belly. But some of these rays are so unique that they stand out right away.
One such animal came to the attention of marine biologist Dr. Mark Erdmann, executive director of ReShark, during a trip to Raja Ampat, Indonesia – an archipelago at the meeting point of the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
Erdmann was hosting a Silolona Sojourns conservation cruise in the Dampier Strait in March 2026 when the yacht found a group of giant oceanic manta rays feeding on krill.
One ray looked startlingly different to the rest. “Most of the oceanic mantas we encounter in Raja Ampat have more of a standard black and white dorsal pattern (and a number of them are 'all black'),” Erdmann explains, “but this particular manta had an unusual amount of white that really made it stand out.”
The white manta seemed to glow in the water as it looped-the-loop and somersaulted through the sea to feed on the tiny organisms as efficiently as possible. Its eerie colouration made it look almost like a spirit in the water.
The unusual ray “really stood out against the slate grey water with its striking dorsal colour pattern of ghostly white on black,” he says.
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Top image credit: Mark Erdmann, Silolona Sojourns
