Michael Pitts / Giant manta ray (Manta birostris) swimming over a cleaning station, Maldives, Indian Ocean.

Doug Perrine / Researcher Guy Stevens photographs belly spot identification pattern of Reef manta ray (Manta alfredi formerly Manta birostris) feeding on plankton, Hanifaru Bay, Baa Atoll, Maldives, Indian Ocean, Oc...

Doug Perrine / Reef manta ray (Manta alfredi formerly Manta birostris) barrel roll filter feeding on plankton, Hanifaru Bay, Baa Atoll, Maldives, Indian Ocean, October

Doug Perrine / Reef manta rays (Manta alfredi formerly Manta birostris) chain-feeding on plankton, Hanifaru Bay, Baa Atoll, Maldives, Indian Ocean, October

Doug Perrine / Reef manta rays (Manta alfredi formerly Manta birostris) vortex / cyclone feeding on plankton, Hanifaru Bay, Hanifaru Lagoon, Baa Atoll, Maldives, Indian Ocean, October

Doug Perrine / Reef manta rays (Manta alfredi formerly Manta birostris) filter feeding on plankton among Silverside fish that are also feeding on the plankton, Hanifaru Bay, Hanifaru Lagoon, Baa Atoll, Maldives, Ind...

Flip Nicklin / Manta Ray (Manta birostris) with two Remora (Remora remora) attached to it, Hallcion Reef, Cocos Island, Costa Rica

Alex Mustard / Reef manta (Mobula alfredi) visiting a cleaning station on a coral reef with a school of Onespot snappers (Lutjanus monostigma), Oriental sweetlips (Plectorhinchus vittatus) and Sabre squirrelfish (Sa...

Tui De Roy / Reef manta ray (Manta alfredi) shoal filter feeding on plankton concentrated by monsoon currents in Raa Atoll, Vandhoo Thila, Maldives. October.

Alex Mustard / Reef manta (Mobula alfredi) female swimming close to a coral reef, while cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus), tiny by comparison, pick parasites from her lips. Misool, Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indone...

Alex Mustard / Portrait of a large female Reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) swimming over a coral reef. Misool, Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia. Ceram Sea. Tropical West Pacific Ocean.