Latest Manta Stories
TOKYO (AP) - A giant manta ray baby that was believed to be the first born in captivity died Thursday after being abused by its father, Japanese keepers said.The female baby manta was born Saturday at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, more than a year after its parents mated.The baby manta, which was more than 6 feet wide, was pronounced dead Thursday morning after living only 4 1/2 days, the aquarium said in a statement."To our greatest regret, (the baby) didn't last very long, despite our...
By MARI YAMAGUCHI TOKYO - What is believed to be the first giant manta ray born in captivity has arrived at a southern Japanese aquarium, the facility said Sunday. The baby manta, a female, was born late Saturday in a huge fish tank at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, more than a year after its parents mated, the aquarium said in a statement posted Sunday on its Web site. In a video capturing the birth, the baby manta, rolled up like a tube, came sliding out of the mother manta, then quickly...
By Peter Johnson I gripped the slippery sides of the speedboat I as it bucked the swollen surf. Through the squall I could just make out the words on the pilot's vest: Escuela Paramilitar. I held on and, before long, neither the mainland behind us nor the island to which we were headed was visible. This Bond-style ride wasn't quite what I'd expected. I was, after all, not on a drug-running mission but bound for Isla de la Plata to do a spot of birdwatching. But the 90-minute ride out from...
QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - Ecuador is not likely to extend a deal that allows the United States to use an anti-narcotics air base on its territory due to a surge in sentiment against the American military presence, its deputy minister of foreign relations said on Wednesday. Deputy minister Diego Ribadeneira said in a television interview that the Andean country's major parties would probably block the ratification of a deal on U.S. use of the Manta military base beyond 2009. "I think...
By Luis Jaime Acosta and Carlos Andrade BOGOTA/QUITO, Colombia (Reuters) - More than 100 Ecuadoreans trying to illegally emigrate to the United States drowned last week when the overcrowded fishing boat they were traveling aboard sank in the Pacific Ocean, authorities said on Wednesday. The boat, which was designed to hold 15 people, was carrying 113 when it sank off the coast of Colombia, an Ecuadorean navy spokesman said. The boat left the port of Manta, Ecuador, on Thursday without...
Latest Manta Reference Libraries
The reef manta ray is found in shallow coastal waters around the Indo-West Pacific, The Red Sea, South Africa, Thailand and Western Australia. It can also be found around the southern islands of Japan and from Eastern Australia to French Polynesia, including the Hawaiian Islands. It will normally stay within a few miles of the shoreline around coral and rocky reef areas. The reef manta ray is the second largest of the ray family, reaching a maximum length of up to 16.4 feet and maximum...
The largest ray in the world is the giant oceanic manta ray. It is found in the open water of all the major oceans of the world. In the eastern Atlantic it can be seen from New Jersey to Uruguay; in the western Atlantic from the Azores Islands to South Africa; in the eastern Pacific from southern California to Peru and in the western Pacific from Japan to New Zealand. It also can be seen in the entire Indian Ocean. This manta ray will swim in deep water but enter the shallows around reefs for...
The bull ray is found in the warm coastal waters, lagoons, and estuaries of Europe and Africa, mainly in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Black Sea, and Mediterranean Sea. The full distribution of this species is unclear. It swims both near the surface and on the bottom to feed in small groups at depths of 200 ft or more, sometimes leaping out of the water. Occasionally it is called a duckbill ray in the region of South Africa. The shape of the head is where the bull ray gets its...
