#2070 · 🦈 sharks & rays
Oceanic Manta Ray
🇳🇱 Reuzenmanta ·Mobula birostris
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Programa Marino del Golfo de California · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Anna Flam · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Francesco Ricciardi · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © craigjhowe · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 5. © craigjhowe · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 6. © Adelma Hills · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. © Stevelaycock21 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 8. © Elias Levy · CC BY 4.0
- 9. © jome jome · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
what is it?
The giant oceanic manta ray ( Manta birostris ) is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae, and the largest type of ray in the world. They are circumglobal and are typically found in tropical and subtropical waters, but can also be found in temperate waters.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 929 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Johann Julius Walbaum in 1792 (234 years ago).
- Listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
fact sheet
- English
- Oceanic Manta Ray
- Nederlands
- Reuzenmanta
- scientific name
- Mobula birostris
- class
- Chondrichthyes
- order
- Myliobatiformes
- family
- Mobulidae
- IUCN Red List
- EN · endangered
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 929
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1792 by Johann Julius Walbaum
IUCN in Dutch: bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Mobulidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 623966, Wikidata Q321976, GBIF 9548142, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.