12/24/2023 0 Comments Manta ray vs stingray![]() Making it so you don’t have to plan your vacation and flights around the manta ray season. First, there is no manta ray season in Kona. Kona provides the best experience to go night snorkeling for two reasons. As manta ray habitats span the globe in warm, tropical waters, there are locations all over the world, perhaps closer to you than Hawaii, to swim with the manta rays. Manta rays snorkeling isn’t only in Kona. What makes snorkeling with them so thrilling is these giants swim within inches of your face. They can grow up to 18-feet long and weigh over 6,000 pounds. The Hawaii manta ray is the second largest species of manta ray in the world, belonging to the giant oceanic manta ray species, Mobula birostris. They are even known to wait in line to have their skin, gills, and mouth cleaned.ĭuring your night snorkel with manta rays, you will see rays with 15-foot wingspans, on average. These cleaning stations are where sharks, manta rays, and fish come to be cleaned of parasites by cleaner fish. They do frequent manta ray cleaning stations located in reefs. They go where the food is so snorkeling with them is seasonal in most locations around the world. Each manta ray can be identified by their black and white Rorsschack patterns, making it possible for scientists to identify and name the 291 (as of January 22, 2020) manta rays in Kona. They call Hawaii their home year-round and for their 50-year lives. ![]() The manta rays around Hawaii do not migrate like other manta rays in tropical waters around the world. Making the feeding areas around Hawaii ideal for snorkeling with manta rays. As opportunistic feeders, they dine when they can find it. An adult can consume 40 to 66 pounds of food per day. Their gaping mouths filter large quantities of plankton, their main source of food, as they swim. ![]() Manta rays are gentle, graceful creatures. They don’t have a bone, tooth, or barb in their body. Meaning they don’t have bones but cartilage. Manta rays are fish and in the same order as sharks, the chondrichthyan order.
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