Reef manta ray

Riffmanta (Manta alfredi )

The Riffmanta (Manta alfredi ) is a ray species of the subfamily of the Devil Rays. He comes in the Red Sea and Indo-Pacific from South Africa prior to Hawaii, Japan and French Polynesia and lives in contrast to the partly oceanic giant manta (Manta birostris ) just offshore. Reports of an occurrence in the Atlantic, in the Canary and Cape Verde Islands are based on confusion with a different, perhaps previously undescribed Mantarochenart.

Features

The Riffmanta is including the long whip-like tail up to five meters long and remains smaller than the giant manta ray. The span of the fins, which can amount to a maximum of 5.5 meters, is 2.2 to 2.4 times as large as the length of the body disc. The tail may, if it is still intact, reaching 120 % of the length of the body disc. Top and bottom of the body disc are covered with small, knob-like placoid scales. The ventral side is slightly larger. The upper jaw is toothless, the lower jaw is staffed with six to eight rows of small, triangular teeth. In a row 142-182 teeth next to each other so that the total number of teeth is about 900 to 1500. The tail is spineless and without cartilage keels on the sides. In contrast, the top of the tail may have directly behind the small, triangular dorsal fin pits.

Way of life

The Riffmanta occurs only near the coast, only a few kilometers from the nearest land area or island. He lives in rocky and coral reefs where passing plankton -rich water to the surface. Like all Devil Rays, he is ovoviviparous.

System

Manta alfredi was described in 1868 by the Australian zoologist Gerard Krefft. The validity of this kind, as well as all other described species to Manta Manta on birostris, was later called into question. In June 2008, a marine biologist Andrea Marshall reported on a trade conference in Canada for the first time on new evidence for two types Manta. The second Mantaart was assigned in the journal Zootaxa, an international journal for zoological taxonomy Manta alfredi in 2009 and restored the validity of the type it. A third, Atlantic Mantaart is provisionally than Manta sp. cf birostris called.