Rays
Mobula (Devil) Ray
Mobula spp. · Cartilaginous fish, family Mobulidae
A mobula school in full procession is one of the sea's great crowd scenes: hundreds or thousands of small devil rays stacked wing to wing, banking in unison so the formation flickers black-white-black as bellies catch the light. Off Baja California in spring the schools stretch beyond sight, and their acrobatics, rays flinging themselves skyward to land with a crack, turn boat rides into spectacle. At the Azores, deep-bodied sicklefin devil rays circle seamount summits in stately squadrons instead. The gill-plate trade that hammered mantas hits these smaller mobulids just as hard, and every species in the genus now carries international trade protection.
Dove e quando avvistarne uno
"Residente" significa che la maggior parte delle immersioni in quella destinazione li incontra; "stagionale" significa che sono presenti in modo affidabile nei mesi indicati; qualsiasi altra cosa è un bonus, non un piano.
| Destinazione | Affidabilità | Mesi | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sea of Cortez & Cabo PulmoMexico | Seasonal: reliable in season | Apr–Jul | |
| The AzoresPortugal | Seasonal: reliable in season | Jul–Sep | |
| Galápagos IslandsEcuador | Occasional | Tutto l'anno | |
| Socorro & the RevillagigedosMexico | Occasional | Tutto l'anno |
Il mese migliore, a colpo d'occhio
| Mese | Destinazioni affidabili |
|---|---|
| January | Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
| February | Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
| March | Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
| April | Sea of Cortez & Cabo Pulmo · Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
| May | Sea of Cortez & Cabo Pulmo · Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
| June | Sea of Cortez & Cabo Pulmo · Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
| July | Sea of Cortez & Cabo Pulmo · The Azores · Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
| August | The Azores · Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
| September | The Azores · Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
| October | Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
| November | Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
| December | Galápagos Islands · Socorro & the Revillagigedos |
Capirle
Habitat: Open coastal waters and offshore banks; surface schools by day, with tagged animals making extreme deep dives at night
Distribuzione: Warm oceans worldwide; the great schooling spectacles are in Mexico's Sea of Cortez, with sicklefin devil ray aggregations at the Azores' seamounts and scattered schools through the tropics
Comportamento: The manta's smaller, more restless cousins: horned cephalic fins, swept wings, and a taste for aggregation. Munk's devil rays off Baja form schools of thousands that ripple the surface, and their habit of launching into flips and belly-flops meters above the water remains only partly explained. Encounters are mostly snorkel drifts alongside moving schools.
Dieta: Zooplankton and small schooling fish strained from the water in coordinated feeding runs
Dimensioni: tipicamente intorno a 1.1 m; documentato fino a 3.7 m (disc width; spans the genus: schooling Munk's devil rays average about a meter, while sicklefin devil rays exceed 3 m).
Come comportarsi in sua presenza
Slip into the water quietly ahead of a school's path rather than dropping onto it, no chasing or free-dive bombing through the formation, and follow local swim-with rules. Encounters are snorkel-only with most operators.
Conservazione
Every Mobula species assessed is threatened (mostly Vulnerable or Endangered) from gill-plate fisheries and purse-seine bycatch; all are on CITES Appendix II.
Siti mappati noti per avvistamenti
I siti evidenziati sono stati schedati per questa specie dai nostri redattori; i numeri sono record di occorrenza GBIF registrati entro circa 5 km dal sito a partire dal 1990.
Guarda
Dai canali ufficiali
Wildlife of Monterey | New film in our auditorium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
I video sono link incorporati ai canali dei rispettivi autori. Non ospitiamo nulla e accreditiamo tutto.