Growing demand from Chinese medicine practitioners for a little-known part of the giant manta ray is threatening the global population of the much-loved sea creature, conservationists say.
Researchers, including a Hong Kong-based conservation photographer, say the use of dried gill rakers from manta and mobula rays has risen dramatically in recent years as supplies have become scarce.
Gill rakers, thin filaments the rays use to filter food, are prescribed by some traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to treat everything from chicken pox to cancer, the researchers say. Practitioners claim the ingredient can 'boost the immune system and help purify the body by reducing toxins and fever and enhancing blood circulation'.
'Others claim that gill rakers will remedy throat and skin ailments, male kidney issues and help couples with fertility problems,' according to the 'Manta Ray of Hope' report, produced by conservation groups Shark Savers and WildAid.
The report says that the global populations of manta and mobula rays, also known as devil rays, are rapidly declining due to unregulated fisheries and, in part, demand for gill rakers.
The rays take up to 10 years or more to reproduce and when they do, they typically produce just one pup every two or three years.