Mobula’s mating season
The summer season is definitely one of my favorites in La Baja… I look forward to witnessing one of the coolest aggregations in the animal kingdom: The mobula rays!
Thanks to our spotter plane, we are now able to spot them quite easily, they normally congregate in groups of up to 10,000! We notice they are more active and breach more often when the sun goes down, we call it ”the sunset show”. One of the coolest behaviours Katie and I enjoy watching is the courtship behaviour, when a small group of males chases a female, she often times try to be evasive twisting and turning in different directions while the males mirror her movements, from above it looks like a beautiful slow-motion dance.
Mobulas have an interesting mating behaviour
- They like it rough. The female reduces her speed so the male can grab her and bite the edge of her pectoral fin so he can have her in the right position for copulation (belly to belly)
- The event itself lasts a matter of seconds
- Once finished, the female can start a new courtship with a different male, which can take hours or even days of chasing!
We are thrilled to be able to share the appreciation and respect for these magnificent creatures with our guests!
- Naturalist Scarlett
