Manta Ray Born in captivity - Rare!

A manta ray was born at an aquarium in Okinawa, becoming only the world's second such creature to be born in captivity.

The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Motobu witnessed the birth of the manta ray on Tuesday. The baby was born to the same parents that had also given birth to another baby manta ray in June last year.

Aquarium staff confirmed the pregnancy in June last year, and the baby manta was born after 366 days. The father manta, which was captured by fixed netting in May 1992, has been in an aquarium longer than any other manta in the world.

As the other manta ray died only six days after being born last year due to its father chasing it into the wall of a tank, aquarium staff moved the new baby manta ray to a pond soon after it was born.

The baby manta ray, which measures about 1.8 meters in width, is reportedly healthy.

"We'll see how it works out and hope to make the baby manta ray open to the public as soon as possible," said a representative of the aquarium.

Manta rays live in tropical marine waters and grow to more than 6.7 meters in width.

the original article

The amazing part of this story - how LARGE the infant Manta Rays are! At birth it is 1.8 meters wide! That's enormous. We may have been underestimating the maturity of our Manta sightings here!

that's amazing.

Koh Bon - home of the Manta Rays

Similan Dive Sites - Koh Bon Pinnacle

As part of our ongoing series of Similan Island Dive sites, Wicked Diving presents:

One of the premier sites in the Similans - Koh Bon Pinnacle is a stunning site - but with depth and currents - this site is reserved for experienced

Just 200m southwest of the Koh Bon Island lays the Koh Bon Pinnacle. The pinnacle is totally submerged and since it’s starting at 18m, going straight down to 50+m and without any mooring line attached to it, often exposed to strong currents, this is definitely a dive site for the more advanced diver and we only dive the Koh Bon Pinnacle under perfect conditions.

Due to the location and the depth, these dives normally are short dives. Descending quickly, not to miss the small pinnacle, you see the top of the pinnacle falling dramatically down to its deepest parts. Swimming down you’ll see bigger reef fish and at the sandy bottom on the south side you most likely see reef sharks, big rays and sometimes Eagle rays. Coming around the pinnacle whilst ascending, you find a sand ridge, starting at 25m going from the pinnacle all the way to the Koh Bon Island more or less at the same depth the whole way.

Close to the pinnacle you might encounter resting Leopard sharks and swimming towards the island reef sharks and larger rays. If you make it to the island, you can end your dive coming up on the hard coral reef fringing the shore. And just as the Koh Bon Ridge, the Koh Bon Pinnacle is an excellent site to spot Manta Rays and, when season, also Whale Sharks

Snorkeling: Koh Bon Pinnacle is not suited for snorkeling.

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