Manta rays do not have a functional barb or sting on their tail. This has given rise to their alternative common name of ‘devilfish’. While rolled up, giant manta rays' cephalic fins resemble horns. They use these for feeding, and roll them up to improve swimming efficiency when not in use. Giant manta rays have diamond-shaped bodies and two large muscular fins that protrude forward from the head either side of their mouth. But divers have occasionally been towed through the water at high speeds when mantas have become accidentally tangled in their float lines. They can also beat them in opposite directions – one up, one down.Īlthough once thought to migrate seasonally to the waters around northern New Zealand, research on other populations in the Indo-Pacific region suggests that the giant manta seen in our waters during spring and summer each year may be resident in this part of the southwest Pacific. Giant manta rays ( Mobula birostris) have huge, diamond shaped bodies and swim by beating their ‘wings’ up and down together.
