ELLE
Call me biased, but this lovely lady is my favourite manta out of the 1400 individuals identified in Batemans Bay, Coral Bay. This folder is called “15.05.23 EPIC MANTAS” on my hard drive because we were surrounded by loads of feeding mantas in the bluest of blue water on the outer reef. Everywhere you looked, there would be a big wide mouth incoming. Loads of zappy sea lice were joining in on the party and heaps of pilot fish were trying to munch up as much food as they could before the mantas came and swallowed it all up.
Elle is one of the older resident females in the database and on top of that, is also a melanistic manta ray, meaning she has a black back and belly but a white ID belly pattern. Melanistic manta rays make up ~13% of the population.
I was debating adding this print to the website, but the day I was trying to make a decision, I ended up having a brief swim with Elle! The screams of happiness were enough to settle the mental debate.
Call me biased, but this lovely lady is my favourite manta out of the 1400 individuals identified in Batemans Bay, Coral Bay. This folder is called “15.05.23 EPIC MANTAS” on my hard drive because we were surrounded by loads of feeding mantas in the bluest of blue water on the outer reef. Everywhere you looked, there would be a big wide mouth incoming. Loads of zappy sea lice were joining in on the party and heaps of pilot fish were trying to munch up as much food as they could before the mantas came and swallowed it all up.
Elle is one of the older resident females in the database and on top of that, is also a melanistic manta ray, meaning she has a black back and belly but a white ID belly pattern. Melanistic manta rays make up ~13% of the population.
I was debating adding this print to the website, but the day I was trying to make a decision, I ended up having a brief swim with Elle! The screams of happiness were enough to settle the mental debate.