One of the things I love most about diving again and again at Socorro is being able to develop a connection with the incredible giant manta rays. With every dive my ability to recognize individual mantas is getting better and better. These stunning, giant creatures have the same brain to body ratio as we do, 5:1, and it makes me wonder if they are able to recognize us as well. All mantas have a unique identifying pattern on their stomach and you can recognize each manta by their specific ‘thumbprint’, I have been seeing many of the same mantas again and again at each of our dive sites. We have been observing a beautiful pregnant female manta at the dive site ‘The Boiler’ for the past few months and to my surprise, when we splashed into the water today at a different site, ‘Punta Tosca’ 40 miles away, there she was! We know that mantas are able to swim long distances, (infact they can never stop swimming as they are negatively buoyant) yet this was the first time I had ever witnessed it myself. After making this connection today, I am going to pay much closer attention to where we are seeing each manta and how much distance they are covering. Who knows what we will find out?
DM Liz
These stunning, giant creatures have the same brain to body ratio as we do, 5:1, and it makes me wonder if they are able to recognize us as well.
