A species
Reef manta ray
Mobula alfredi
A gentle giant with the biggest brain for its size of any living fish
You and the reef manta ray last shared an ancestor about 465 million years ago (on 21 November, if life's history were one year).
Meet a gentle giant with the biggest brain for its body size of any living fish. Two captive giant mantas, its close relatives, once behaved in front of a mirror in a way that may mean they recognised themselves. Surprisingly, this calm giant is a cousin of the great white shark beside it. Both have skeletons made of bendy cartilage rather than bone.
About 3 to 3.5 metres across its wings, it is about as wide as a small car is long. It flies through warm coastal waters on huge wing-like fins, with two soft head flaps that unroll to funnel food into its very wide mouth. Swimming with its mouth open, it sieves tiny drifting sea animals from the water.
Unlike its huge open-ocean relative, the reef manta stays near coasts, coral reefs and islands across the warm Indo-Pacific. Dark on top, it glides over reefs with a long thin tail that has no sting.
Belly fingerprint
Each reef manta has its own pattern of black spots on its white belly. Scientists use photos of the spots to tell animals apart and track them over time.
Manta friends
Reef mantas visit cleaning spots where small fish pick at their skin, often returning to the same spot. Females and mixed male-female pairs especially keep favourite companions and meet them again over weeks to months.
A pink manta
One reef manta near Lady Elliot Island has a bright pink belly. It is the only known pink manta in the world, coloured by an unusual skin pigment, not dye or infection.