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The discovery of the world’s first known manta ray nursery will offer a glimpse into the animals’ juvenile stage.

Sukanya Charuchandra
| 1 min read

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ABOVE: Female manta ray at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Researchers describe their discovery of the world’s first identified manta ray (Mobula birostris) nursery in a study published in Marine Biology on June 15. Using 25 years of diving records and manta ray identification data, scientists found that 95 percent of the manta ray visitors to the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico are juveniles.

“The juvenile life stage for oceanic mantas has been a bit of a black box for us, since we’re so rarely able to observe them,” Joshua Stewart, a marine biology doctoral student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and a coauthor on the paper, says in a statement. “Identifying this area as a nursery highlights its importance for conservation and management, but it also gives us the opportunity ...

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Meet the Author

  • Sukanya Charuchandra

    Sukanya Charuchandra

    Originally from Mumbai, Sukanya Charuchandra is a freelance science writer based out of wherever her travels take her. She holds master’s degrees in Science Journalism and Biotechnology. You can read her work at sukanyacharuchandra.com.

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