Maupiti has a popular snorkeling and diving spot where you can see manta rays.  There is a “cleaning station” where the manta rays go each day between 0900-1100.  We were blessed enough to visit several times during our stay in Maupiti. 

Did you know there are two types of manta rays?  The larger species (biostris) reaches 7 meters (23’) in width while the smaller (M. Alfredis) reaches 5.5 meters (18’).  Both have triangular pectoral fins and large cephalic lobes, and forward-facing mouths.  They can be found in warm, temperate, tropical waters. 

The photos aren’t the best as I’m 10 meters above them and it was cloudy, but you can still tell they are amazing creatures.

How and What they Eat

Mantas are filter feeders and eat large quantities of plankton which they gather with their mouths open as they swim.  The large cephalic lobes help funnel food into its mouth while it swims.  The photos below show you their cephalic lobes in front of their mouth

Cleaning Stations

Mantas visit “cleaning stations” for the removal of parasites. A cleaning station is a large coral head populated with a variety of fish and coral.  The manta will visit the cleaning station to have the fish swim in and out of its gills and mouth collecting parasites.

When we visited, we were able to watch several mantas come and go in an orderly fashion.  It was fascinating and beautiful.

The unfortunate thing is that not all visitors know how to act around manta rays.  We watched several tourists do horrifying things like climbing on the cleaning station, chasing the mantas, and trying to touch them.  The manta rays have been scared away before and frequent the cleaning station less and less.  So, I partnered with the Maupiti Dive Center and Manta Trust in French Polynesia  to help spread the word on how to swim with mantas.

Mating

Female mantas are not considered mature (breeding age) until they are 8-10 years old.  Manta Rays give birth to 1-2 “live pups” (as opposed to laying their eggs), once every two to five years check out mantaray-world.com for more information on manta reproduction.

The male will casually wander around the cleaning stations looking for a willing female.  The females will omit sex hormones in the water to communicate its willingness to mate.  Courting can take up to several weeks and can create “train mating.” A train mating is when up to 25-30 males, arranged one behind the other, follow the female’s movements as she leads them all.  At the end of this test, the female chooses a male and it bites its partner’s left pectoral fin to hold her. Then it positions itself so that bellies of both are bonded, and inserts one of its claspers in the female cloaca. The coupling lasts several seconds and usually the female stands still. After mating the male goes away and never returns to take part in parental care

Fun Facts:

1. Giant manta rays are the largest rays in the world with wingspans up to 29 feet (8.8 m) wide and weights up to 5,300 pounds (2,404 kg).
2. Manta rays are the only vertebrate animals with three paired appendages: two wing-like pectoral fins; two sets of gills; and two lobes that extend from the mouth and funnel in water.
3. A manta ray will sometimes do somersaults (barrel rolls) while feeding to maximize their prey intake.
4. Giant manta rays can dive more than 3,280 feet (1,000 m) underwater, but typically feed only 33 feet (10 m) deep.
5. The life span of a manta ray is upt 40 years.
6. Giant manta rays have the biggest brains of any fish studied so far. They use that brain power to learn, exercise their memory, distinguish between objects and even recognize themselves in the mirror.

It is hard to show just how big and magical these creatures are, but here is a photo with a diver just below the manta on the right.  It is hard to see because I am snorkeling 12 meters above them and the water clarity was pretty bad, but you get the idea.

Photos from our manta ray encounter in Tahanea while swimming in the pass.

A spotted ray playing with the manta rays.  He looks like a bird under water.

This post was written in August 2020.  Our blog posts are usually 6 to 7 weeks behind are true adventures.