The Devil Ray and Manta Ray Family – Mobulidae

There are currently THREE members of the Devil Ray and Manta Ray Family, two from the Pacific Ocean and one found in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, are presented in this website.

FROM THE PACIFIC (2):

FROM THE ATLANTIC & THE PACIFIC (1):

The Devil Ray and Manta Ray or Mobulidae Family is a relatively small family that includes thirteen global species that have been placed into two genera. Of which seven are found in Mexican waters, two in the Atlantic Ocean and thee in the Pacific Ocean and two in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In this website, I have elected to treat them as three separate families: Mobulidae, Myliobatidae and Rhinopteridae. In Mexican they are know collectively as Mantaraya and Rayas Diablo.

The Devil Ray and Manta Ray are moderate to large size fish with strongly depressed bodies flattened into diamond-shaped discs. Some systematists divide the family into three sub-families, Mobulidae, while others treat them as three separate families. In this website, I have elected to treat them as 3 separate families. They are known as águilas marinas in Mexico.

The Devil Ray and Manta Rays are gray to dark brown on their dorsal side and off-white on their ventral side; some have dark margins on their discs. Their head, trunk, and pectoral fins form a disc that is wider than it is long and can reach up to 7.0 m (23 feet) in width. Their head is elevated from the disc with a pair of protruding flaps at the front that extend forward and their eyes and spiracles are on the sides. Their mouth opens at the front and is under their snout.  They have minute teeth found in many series on both jaws. The caudal fin has a small dorsal fin attached that is whip like but shorter than the disc width. Some species have a poisonous tail spine.

The Devil Ray and Manta Rays are found in tropical and temperate global waters over the continental and insular shelves. They are active swimmers capable of traveling long distances by flapping their pectoral fins. They can be found at all depths of the water column and normally travel in groups near the bottom. They heard planktonic food items into their mouth with their head flaps. Reproduction is ovoviviparous without a placenta and via lipid histotrophy whereby developing embryos are supplied with protein and lipid-enriched uterine milk by their mothers. Litters of 2 to 6 pups are born live as miniature adults. They are generally too rare to be of interest to most.

They are fairly common citing’s by humans in boats, by divers in close proximity to reefs and from the shore.