First photographic records of the giant manta ray Manta birostris off eastern Australia

Abstract

We present the first photographic evidence of the presence of the giant manta ray Manta birostris in east Australian waters. Two individuals were photographed off Montague Island in New South Wales and off the north east coast of Tasmania, during summer 2012 and 2014, respectively. These sightings confirm previous unverified reports on the species occurrence and extending the range of M. birostris to 40ºS. We discuss these findings in the context of the species' migratory ecology, the regional oceanography along the south eastern Australian coastline and local productivity events.PeerJ PrePrints | http://dx.doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.572v1 | CC-BY 4.0 Open Access |

Spatial ecology and conservation of Manta birostris in the Indo-Pacific

“…For example, one individual was recorded traveling from mainland Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands, over 1400 km straight-line distance (Hearn et al, 2014). Additionally, long-distance movements may account for the occasional sightings of oceanic manta rays in regions outside their typical distribution (Duffy and Abbott, 2003;Couturier et al, 2015). However, the stable isotope and genetic data we present in this study demonstrate that such cases of long-distance movements are likely rare and do not generate substantial gene flow or interpopulation exchange of individuals.…”

The geographic distribution of reef and oceanic manta rays (Mobula alfredi and Mobula birostris) in Australian coastal waters

“…In comparison, knowledge of the Australian distribution of the oceanic manta ray, Mobula birostris (Walbaum, ), is based on relatively few photographs of individuals from scattered locations (Figure ; Couturier et al ., ). In contrast to M. alfredi , M. birostris has a wider global distribution between 41°N and 40°S.…”