Scientists discover world’s first known manta ray nursery

The University of California, San Diego has discovered the world’s first known nursery for manta rays, an idyllic spot in the Gulf of Mexico where the “gentle giants” approach divers along colourful reefs that seem drawn from the imagination of Walt Disney.

An exploration team led by Josh Stewart, who is finishing up his doctorate in marine biology at the university’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, made the discovery and confirmed its importance over the past few years.

He was aided by colleagues from NOAA who manage the site, which is part of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuaries, about 115km south of Galveston, Texas.

Finding adult manta rays is easy; divers see them in many locations. But in a mystery that has long confused scientists, juveniles rarely swim openly in defined places during the four to five years that it takes them to become adults.

Stewart has been trying to solve the mystery for years, and had some initial success in 2016 when he saw a juvenile oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris). He later saw more juvenile mantas and, with help from the NOAA researchers, determined that he’d happened upon a nursery. The discovery was published this week in the journal Marine Biology.

The juveniles were largely found in an area when the sea floor slopes into deeper water.