First photographic records of the giant manta ray Manta birostris off eastern Australia.

Lydie I.E Couturier,Fabrice R.A Jaine,Tom Kashiwagi

doi:10.7717/peerj.742

Lydie I.E Couturier, Fabrice R.A Jaine + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.742

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Abstract

We present the first photographic evidence of the presence of the giant manta ray Manta birostris in east Australian waters. Two individuals were photographed off Montague Island in New South Wales and off the north east coast of Tasmania, during summer 2012 and 2014, respectively. These sightings confirm previous unverified reports on the species occurrence and extend the known distribution range of M. birostris to 40°S. We discuss these findings in the context of the species’ migratory behaviour, the regional oceanography along the south east Australian coastline and local productivity events.

Highlights

Manta rays (Manta spp.) are amongst the largest filter-feeding elasmobranch fishes and have a circumglobal distribution through tropical and temperate coastal waters, offshore islands and seamounts (Marshall, Compagno & Bennett, 2009)
While the occurrence of M. alfredi has been widely confirmed off the coast of eastern Australia (Couturier et al, 2011; Couturier et al, 2014), the occurrence of M. birostris in this region has been lacking photographic validation despite records in literature (Hutchins & Swainston, 1986; Allen et al, 2006; Last & Stevens, 2009)
This paper presents the first photographic evidence confirming the occurrence of M. birostris in east Australian waters, with one specimen photographed off Montague Island, New South Wales, in January 2012 and one specimen photographed off the northeast coast of Tasmania in January 2014

Summary

Introduction

Manta rays (Manta spp.) are amongst the largest filter-feeding elasmobranch fishes and have a circumglobal distribution through tropical and temperate coastal waters, offshore islands and seamounts (Marshall, Compagno & Bennett, 2009). Both manta ray species and four of the nine described Mobula species are reported to occur in tropical to temperate waters of Australia (Last & Stevens, 2009; Marshall, Compagno & Bennett, 2009).

Results

Conclusion