The Life of Animals | Manta ray | Manta rays have a distinctive body shape with triangular pectoral 'wings' and paddle-like lobes extending in front of Their mouths. The large, cavernous mouth is situated at the front of the body and contains 18 rows of teeth on the lower jaw. Manta rays have a much Thicker body mucus coating than other rays. Their Mantas have a tail similar to stingrays, but They have lost Their stinger and are harmless to divers The breeding behavior observed for manta rays is similar to other closely related rays.
Manta rays are very rarely Kept in captivity, primarily due to Their size. Only four aquariums in the world display manta rays. One notable example is "Nandi", a manta ray That was accidentally caught in shark nets off Durban, South Africa in 2007.
A second manta ray joined That aquarium's collection in September 2009, dubbed "Tallulah." A third manta ray has recently been added to the Ocean Voyager exhibit. The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium also houses manta rays in the "Kuroshio Sea" tank, the second-largest aquarium tank in the world. On June 16, 2007, the first manta ray born in captivity was born at the aquarium. The Lisbon Oceanarium also hosted a manta ray, Manta birostris, from 2002 until releasing it in 2007. A devil ray, Mobula mobular, was introduced in 2003 and lives there still. Human influences Such as fishing and use in Chinese medicines are severe threats to the manta ray population. Taking roughly 12 months for a female manta ray to give birth to a single pup it is no surprise That these creatures are extremely vulnerable to overfishing. Intense international fishing pressures and growing consumer demand Caused Populations to decline by 30 percent worldwide, with some regions experiencing an 80 percent decline over the last 75 years.
