The Record-Breaking Manta Ray: A Dive into the Largest Ever Recorded

Of all the fish in the sea, manta rays have got to be amongst the most graceful and breathtaking creatures. With a diamond-shaped appearance and huge fins that look like wings, manta rays glide through the water with an ease that belies their size.

But just how big can manta rays get? We’ll dive into the largest manta ray ever recorded and what size ancient manta rays may have reached.

The Background on Manta Rays

Besides their massive wings, manta rays can easily be distinguished by their wide mouths and “horns.” These are actually called cephalic fins or lobes, which are used for channeling water and food into their mouths while they are feeding. There are two species of manta ray: the reef manta ray (Manta alfredi) and the giant manta ray (Manta birostris).

The giant manta ray is the larger of the two.  Both species have the typical manta ray coloring of black on their back and white on their bellies. Giant manta rays have black mouths while reef manta rays have white mouths. Although these huge rays are often mistaken for stingrays, they don’t have a barb on their tail. In fact, manta rays are extremely gentle and friendly creatures that are not harmful at all.

Manta rays are usually found in tropical and subtropical waters. They are migratory animals that largely follow where the food is. Reef manta rays are mainly found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, while giant manta rays frequent the seas all the way around the equator.

The Largest Manta Ray Ever Recorded

Although manta rays have an average wingspan of 22 feet, the largest manta ray ever recorded was much larger. It reached a whopping 30 feet. Recorded in 1920, this huge manta ray even made it into the Guinness World Records as the largest manta ray ever recorded. However, no weight was recorded for this record breaker. The heaviest manta ray recorded was a female in 1933 that weighed in at around 5,000 pounds.

Despite her super-sized weight, the female giant manta ray only reached a relatively small 20-foot wingspan. Caught by Captain Khan, a New York silk merchant in 1933, off the coast of New Jersey, the massive manta ray became tangled in the anchor line of his boat while he was fishing. He towed it five miles over three hours while he feared his boat would capsize.

Were Ancient Rays Even Larger?

Many of the largest species today had relatives that actually dwarfed them. Were ancient manta rays giants? While rays have been around since the Jurassic Period (150 million years ago), there’s no evidence of past rays being larger than today’s giants. This means today’s giant oceanic manta rays could be the largest species of ray to ever swim in the world’s oceans.

Interestingly, a species known as the “eagle shark” lived 95 million years ago. This unique prehistoric fish had long wings like a ray and the body of a shark. However, compared to today’s giant manta rays, it would be quite small, measuring only 6 feet long.

How Do Manta Rays Compare to Other Huge Fish?

It is already pretty impressive for manta rays to reach the size that they are without being predatory animals. But how do they compare with other fish in the sea?

Manta rays are the fifth largest fish in the sea, behind only basking sharks, whale sharks, great white sharks, and ocean sunfish. They are also the biggest of all animals in the order Batoidea, which includes stingrays, manta rays, and skates. With the largest species of stingray having an average wingspan of only five feet, manta rays dwarf them.

There are a few other species of fish — such as the Beluga sturgeon with a length of 24 feet and the ocean sunfish with a weight of around 4,300 pounds — that come close to the manta ray in size. However, they are still smaller, meaning the manta ray maintains its position as one of the largest fish in the world.

How Do Manta Rays Get So Big?

All manta rays are filter feeders, consuming plankton, shrimp, and other small organisms. Manta rays have a unique way of feeding. They hold their cephalic fins in an “O” shape to help push water and food into their open mouth. Once they have taken in a mouthful of water and plankton, they push it over their gill rakers. These act as giant filters to separate out water from food.

As manta rays are so massive, they have very few natural predators other than some of the largest sharks and killer whales.  Despite their large size, they have a top speed of 15mph, which helps them get away from predators. However, their main threat actually comes from humans, as they are often caught in fishing nets as bycatch.