90-Day Finding on a Petition To List Giant Devil Ray Under the Endangered Species Act

We, NOAA Fisheries, announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the giant devil ray (Mobula mobular) as an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The petition requests that we list the giant devil ray (M. mobular) as a distinct species with a limited range throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Information in our files indicates a recent taxonomic revision that found M. mobular and M. japanica (spinetail devilray) to be synonymous species (i.e., same taxon described and named more than once independently) with circumglobal distribution in tropical and warm temperate seas. The petition relies on obsolete information to identify the species, and therefore we find that the petition does not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted.