![]() ![]() ![]() White arrows indicate key characters for M. Photographs of a Manta birostris (specimen #1) taken off Montague Island on the 5th January 2012 by Peter McGee. 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. This paper presents the first photographic evidence confirming the occurrence of M. birostris prior to 2009 lacking photographic evidence cannot be validated, as species may have been confused with M. The recent separation in the genus Manta spp. birostris in this region has been lacking photographic validation despite records in literature ( Hutchins & Swainston, 1986 Allen et al., 2006 Last & Stevens, 2009). alfredi has been widely confirmed off the coast of eastern Australia ( Couturier et al., 2011 Couturier et al., 2014), the occurrence of M. Manta alfredi displays a high degree of site fidelity in tropical and subtropical waters, but may also undertake local to regional-scale (>700 km) movements and seasonal migrations ( Dewar et al., 2008 Couturier et al., 2011 Deakos, Baker & Bejder, 2011 Marshall, Dudgeon & Bennett, 2011 Couturier et al., 2014 Jaine et al., 2014).īoth 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). Manta birostris is considered a more oceanic and migratory species, and is found predominantly in cooler, temperate to subtropical waters ( Marshall et al., 2011). Both recognised species have circumglobal distributions, sympatric in some areas and allopatric in others ( Kashiwagi et al., 2011). birostris ( Marshall, Compagno & Bennett, 2009). Previously considered to be monospecific ( Manta birostris), the genus Manta was redescribed in 2009 to comprise two distinct species: the reef manta ray Manta alfredi (Krefft, 1868) and the giant manta ray Manta birostris (Walbaum, 1792), and a third putative species M. ![]() All mobulid species are epipelagic zooplanktivores that are presumed to be long lived (e.g., >30 years for Manta spp.) and have low fecundities (i.e., late maturity, long gestation period and only a single large pup) ( Couturier et al., 2012). Manta rays belong to the family Mobulidae, comprising the two genera Manta Bancroft, 1829 and Mobula Rafinesque, 1810. 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). ![]()
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