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Section 7 Species Presence Information: Giant Manta Rays in the Greater Atlantic Region
Information on giant manta ray presence in the New England/Mid-Atlantic area for Section 7 consultations.
Note: Due to their rare occurrence mainly offshore within the Greater Atlantic Region, the giant manta ray is not included in our Species Tables or Section 7 Mapper. When considering whether to include an analysis of manta rays in your consultation request, please see the giant manta ray information below and also the Southeast Region’s Consultation Framework.
Giant manta rays (Manta birostris) inhabit tropical, subtropical, and temperate bodies of water and are commonly found offshore in oceanic waters and near productive coastlines (i.e., surface thermal fronts, bathymetric slope, shelf-edge upwelling zones, and high chlorophyll-a concentration) (Marshall et al. 2009; Kashiwagi et al. 2011). The giant manta ray is considered to be a migratory species, with estimated distances of up to 1,500 kilometers traveled (Miller and Klimovich 2017). However, there is some evidence that giant manta rays may exist as well-structured subpopulations that exhibit a high degree of residency (Stewart et al. 2016b). Giant manta rays exhibit a high degree of variability in terms of their use of depths within their habitat, with tagging studies evidencing night descents of 200-450 meters (Rubin and Kumli 2008; Stewart et al. 2016a) and occasional dives to depths exceeding 1,000 meters (Miller and Klimovich 2017).
In terms of range in the eastern United States, the species has been documented as far north as offshore around the Hudson Canyon region near Long Island, New York (Gudger 1922; Kashiwagi et al. 2010; CITES 2013; Normandeau Associates and APEM Ltd 2017; as cited in 84 FR 66652). Farmer et al. (2022) integrated decades of sightings and survey effort data from multiple sources in a comprehensive species distribution-modeling framework to evaluate the distribution of giant manta rays off the U.S. east coast. The highest concentration of the over 5,000 sightings from 1925 to 2020 was in nearshore to shelf-edge waters off Florida and Georgia and nearshore and shelf-edge waters from Cape Hatteras north to New York (Farmer et al. 2022; Table 1). In New York, despite comprehensive coast to shelf survey coverage, manta sightings were exclusively in August on the continental shelf edge. While the modeling done by Farmer et al. 2022 predicted high numbers of manta rays in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays due to the favorable habitat there (high chlorophyll-a concentrations associated with terrestrial outflow), there have been no reported sightings in these areas.
Farmer et al. (2022) determined that manta ray occurrence in the eastern US is influenced primarily by temperature, with a clear expansion to the north during warmer months and within this thermal range. They can be found in cool water, as low as 19 °C, although temperature preference appears to vary by region (approximately 20-30°C) (Duffy and Abbott 2003; Marshall et al. 2009; Freedman and Roy 2012; Graham et al. 2012). Models predicted highest nearshore occurrence off northeastern Florida during April, with the distribution extending northward along the shelf-edge as temperatures warm, leading to higher occurrences north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina from June to October, and then south of Savannah, Georgia from November to March as temperatures cool. The vast majority (82%) of sightings north of 35° N were recorded from June to September.
Bycatch of giant manta rays in the northwest Atlantic Ocean has been observed in purse-seine, trawl, gillnet, and longline fisheries. However, as noted in a study by Oliver et al. (2015), as cited in Miller and Klimovich (2017), giant manta rays do not appear to be a significant component of the fisheries bycatch.
Reported sightings of manta rays (1925–2020) relative to regional landmarks and ocean currents, from Farmer et al. (2022). Sightings from Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) Atlantic U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service 4 Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS), Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (GOMAPPS), Gulf of Mexico Natural Resource Damage Assessment (GOMNRDA) aerial surveys, Mississippi Lab pelagic longline surveys (MS Lab Survey), and Reef Visual Census (RVC) SCUBA-based survey; Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Kajiura Lab aerial elasmobranch surveys, Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) staff sightings, boat-based and aerial surveys by trained Florida Manta Project (FMP) staff, Florida State University (FSU) Grubbs Lab elasmobranch gillnet surveys, Georgia Aquarium (GAI) aerial surveys, Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) open-access data, North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium (NARWC) ship-based and aerial surveys, Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) Northeast Observer Program (NEOP) trawl encounters, APEM and Normandeau Associates Aerial Digital Baseline Survey of Marine Wildlife in Support of Offshore Wind Energy for New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and verified opportunistic sightings reported to the authors or pulled from social media and news reports. Basemap used with permission from ESRI Ocean Base map and its partners, showing marine water body names, undersea feature names, and derived depth values in meters.
Literature Cited
CITES (2013) Amendments to Appendices I and II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. www.cites.org
Duffy, C.A.J. and Abbott, D., 2003. Sightings of mobulid rays from northern New Zealand, with confirmation of the occurrence of Manta birostris in New Zealand waters.
Farmer, N.A., Garrison, L.P., Horn, C., Miller, M., Gowan, T., Kenney, R.D., Vukovich, M., Willmott, J.R., Pate, J., Harry Webb, D. and Mullican, T.J., 2022. The distribution of manta rays in the western North Atlantic Ocean off the eastern United States. Scientific reports, 12(1), pp.1-20.
Freedman, R. and Roy, S.S., 2012. Spatial patterning of Manta birostris in United States east coast offshore habitat. Applied Geography, 32(2), pp.652-659.
Graham, R.T., Witt, M.J., Castellanos, D.W., Remolina, F., Maxwell, S., Godley, B.J. and Hawkes, L.A., 2012. Satellite tracking of manta rays highlights challenges to their conservation. PloS one, 7(5), p.e36834.
Gudger, E.W. 1922. The most northerly record of the capture in Atlantic waters of the United States of the giant ray, Manta birostris. Science, 55(1422), pp.338-340.
Kashiwagi, T., Ito, T. and Sato, F. 2010. Occurrences of reef manta ray, Manta alfredi, and giant manta ray, M. birostris. Japan, examined by photographic records. Report of Japanese Society for Elasmobranch Studies, 46, pp.20-27.
Kashiwagi, T., Marshall, A.D., Bennett, M.B. and Ovenden, J.R., 2011. Habitat segregation and mosaic sympatry of the two species of manta ray in the Indian and Pacific Oceans: Manta alfredi and M. birostris. Marine Biodiversity Records, 4.
Marshall, A.D., Compagno, L.J. and Bennett, M.B., 2009. Redescription of the genus Manta with resurrection of Manta alfredi (Krefft, 1868)(Chondrichthyes; Myliobatoidei; Mobulidae). Zootaxa, 2301(1), pp.1-28.
Miller, M.H., and C. Klimovich. 2017. Endangered Species Act status review report: Giant manta ray (Manta birostris) and reef manta ray (Manta alfredi). National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, Maryland, September. Available from: https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/17096.
Oliver, S., M. Braccini, S.J. Newman, and E.S. Harvey. 2015. Global pattern in the bycatch of sharks and rays. Marine Policy 54:86-97.
Rubin, R., and K.C. Kumli, G. 2008. Dive characteristics and movement patterns of acoustic and satellite-tagged manta rays (Manta birostris) in the Revillagigedos Islands of Mexico. In Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Montreal, Canada, 2008.
Stewart, J.D., E.M. Hoyos-Padilla, K.R. Kumli, and R.D. Rubin. 2016a. Deep-water feeding and behavioral plasticity in Manta birostris revealed by archival tags and submersible observations. Zoology 119(5):406-413.
Stewart, J.D., C.S. Beale, D. Fernando, A.B. Sianipar, R.S. Burton, B.X. Semmens, and O. Aburto-Oropeza. 2016b. Spatial ecology and conservation of Manta birostris in the Indo-Pacific. Biological Conservation 200:178-183.
Right whale #3853 swimming north offshore of South Carolina on Jan. 20, 2011 with a series of fresh propeller wounds running across its back. The whale was observed 5 days previously offshore of Georgia without propeller wounds. It is unknown whether the whale survived its wounds or not, as it has not been re-sighted since. Vessel collisions are a leading cause of right whale mortality. Credit: EcoHealth Alliance (NOAA permit #594-1759).
North Atlantic right whale Catalog #3560 ‘Snow Cone’ sighted December 2, 2021 entangled and with a new calf. Photo credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission taken under NOAA permit 20556.
Right whale #3853 swimming north offshore of South Carolina on Jan. 20, 2011 with a series of fresh propeller wounds running across its back. The whale was observed 5 days previously offshore of Georgia without propeller wounds. It is unknown whether the whale survived its wounds or not, as it has not been re-sighted since. Vessel collisions are a leading cause of right whale mortality. Credit: EcoHealth Alliance (NOAA permit #594-1759).
North Atlantic right whale Catalog #3560 ‘Snow Cone’ sighted December 2, 2021 entangled and with a new calf. Photo credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission taken under NOAA permit 20556.
Four North Atllantic right whales.
A Northeast Fisheries Science Center biologist collecting data during buoyless lobster trap tests.