Why manta rays jump

Once gravity takes hold, they resemble the funny kid on the high board, who hits the water belly first with a gigantic and seemingly painful splash. Perhaps then this magnificent performance is an attempt to rid themselves of irritating parasites that live in the mucus layer covering the skin.

After all, few parasites would be able to keep hold during this turbulent belly flop. Or perhaps—and this is the option I prefer to believe—they do it simply for fun. Just because they can. In fact, mantas and mobulas have the largest brain to body ratio of any shark or ray, and are known to engage divers and to show complex behaviors.

And complex beings like to have fun! At one time, their meat was even sold as to unsuspecting consumers as scallops, thanks to some ingenious use of a cookie cutter! Antoni has many more beautiful photos documenting his journey and his many wonderful wildlife encounters.

Bird that wants to be a fish and the fist that wants to be a bird meet. If you have been out on a boat in the Gulf de Papagayo of Costa Rica, you may have witnessed a strange creature leaping from the water and coming down with a loud splash. It could be a dolphin but chances are that what you have witnessed is in fact a devil ray.

The devil ray as it is commonly called is actually part of the mobula family of rays. There are several species in this family most of which are known to breach.

There breaching is a source of much debate in the marine biologist community. There are several different opinions or theories on what makes the mobulas jump, however, there remains no steadfast evidence that definitively settles the debate.

Theories regarding this odd behavior vary widely. One of the wider spread theories is that these devil rays perform this jumping ritual to remove parasites from their skin. Other theories suggest that it could be a form of mating ritual or simply showing off. There is also the opinion that these rays could possibly be breaching by complete accident.

Devil rays are incredibly fast, as they have no other form of defense other than their speed and agility. Others have another theory. Rays could congregate and jump to seduce their partner. What about fun? May be rays jump only for fun , like dolphins surfing waves or cat playing with ball of wool? Animals also have the right to spend great time with friends.

Leave a comment. Related posts. By spotmydive. Scientists are unsure as to exactly why they breach the surface like this… Photo: Nick Bonzey from Corvallis, OR — Ray catching some air.

These rays leap spectacularly from the sea when they gather in large groups, with some of the most spectacular jumps reaching over 6.

Marine Biologists cannot reach a consensus as to why they breach, but a variety of answers have been put forward. One possible explanation is to avoid being eaten by predators, such as hammerhead and bull sharks.