Baby manta ray name1/14/2024 ![]() Taken together, these findings strongly suggest that the young manta rays are highly dependent on this nursery for their health and survival. A cleaning station is like a "spa," where the young rays were cleaned by cleaner fish feeding on parasites all over the surface of rays' bodies. ![]() They remained in the lagoon to feed, interact with their mates or cruise around the lagoon.ĭuring the day, the young rays visit cleaning stations, located specifically on coral reefs within the lagoon. The young rays were also detected for 24 hours in Wayag Lagoon. Importantly, the receivers also recorded acoustic signals from the young rays every day for four months. During this period, the receivers detected the young rays nearly continuously for 14.5 months. Two mantas are very special as they were given names after family members who have passed: Shirley Ray and Hans Ray. The acoustic tracking lasted for 28 months from May 2019 to September 2021. We put this transmitters on nine young rays and acoustic receivers at five sites in Wayag Lagoon.Įach transmitter comes with a unique code, allowing us to identify each manta ray that happened to be within receiver detection range and therefore was detected by the receiver. To understand the residency of young rays, we used acoustic tracking, a system functioning like an attendance machine. Tucked away in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the worlds first known nursery for baby. They also occasionally took short journeys out of the lagoon for a few days before returning to the lagoon. A juvenile manta ray at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. We used satellite transmitters deployed on five rays in Wayag Lagoon in 20 to investigate the home range of these young rays.Īfter tracking for 21–69 days, we found that they spent more time inside the lagoon. Using drones, we measured two young rays with a size of 218 cm and 219 cm in wingspan. In this lagoon, the young rays were often seen somersault feeding and cruising along the lagoon surrounded by towering limestone outcrops. This is mainly because of the murky waters in the lagoon and some challenges in getting close to these skittish young rays. Unfortunately, we could not photograph all the young manta rays we encountered in each survey. They include two that, after 21 months, were still found in the lagoon.Įach manta ray has a distinctive spot pattern like our fingerprints on the underside of its body, thus allowing us to distinguish one from another. Five of the 34 rays were photographed in the lagoon after 16 months. Using photo identification, we managed to identify 34 young manta rays from 47 encounters. How were the baby manta rays monitored and tracked?īefore confirming that Wayag Lagoon is a nursery for baby manta rays, we conducted regular monitoring every 3–6 months from 2013–2021 in the area. Four areas identified as potential reef manta ray nursery areas in Raja Ampat waters.
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