While snorkeling at Honolua Bay on 6-28-13, we came across a couple manta rays! It appeared as if they were circling around a station of Hawaiian cleaner wrasse. The cleaner wrasse were eating the small skin parasites off of the manta rays. One of the rays had a rusted fish hook in his right cephalic fin, but he seemed to be in otherwise great shape.
These rays are of the species known as reef manta rays, which average about 10-12ft in width but have been reported to reach 18ft. The larger oceanic manta ray is a close relative to the reef manta, and it is this oceanic species that can surpass 20ft in width. My best estimations would place the mantas we saw in the 9-10ft range.
3 окт 2024
