#REEF MANTA RAY SKIN#

They seem unfazed by our presence, and several swim directly up to us. There are multiple mantas swimming in circles, mouths agape as they glide through the water, cephalic lobes (two fleshy tendrils) curled to funnel more food into their mouths. We don our snorkels and lower ourselves into the bath-warm ocean, careful not to disturb the creatures as they glide through sparkling shoals of tropical fish. It’s not long before Haines spots a pair of wingtips poking slightly above the glass-clear water.

#REEF MANTA RAY SKIN#

These are locations where mantas congregate so that tiny fish can give them sub-aquatic spruce-ups, feasting on parasites and dead skin cells on their gills and skin. Our small group – consisting of Haines, myself and three other guests – clamber into the boat and head to one of the so-called cleaning stations. We should aim to keep five metres between ourselves and the mantas (although they often choose to come much closer) and never chase or touch them. First, there is a brief chat about manta protocol. Keen to see a manta for myself, I join one of Haines’s excursions. I’ve spotted manta rays, sharks, stingrays and eagle rays – not during a scuba dive or snorkelling session, but on the short walk from the resort’s reception to my villa One of the recent additions is a specimen christened Manta Claus. Photos taken by guests during these trips are often added to Haines’s database of manta mugshots, and guests who spot a previously undocumented manta get the right to name it. At the same time, hotel guests get a fascinating insight into the creatures during annual Mantra Retreats and manta-spotting boat trips. The resort is the perfect base from which to conduct research into the plight of the region’s reef mantas. The stunning InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau resort Resort guests become citizen scientists By the end of my first day on the island, I’ve spotted manta rays, sharks, stingrays and eagle rays – not during a scuba dive or snorkelling session, but during the short walk from the resort’s reception area to my villa. When the Manta Trust decided to set up a base on Raa Atoll’s Maamunagau Island, which had added bonus of its proximity to the Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve, a hotspot for manta rays, they asked Haines to manage it.Ī perk of the job? Haines’ office is in the dive centre at the InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort, where the boardwalks that weave around its beautiful lagoon double as brilliant viewing points from which to spot mantas. While there, she saw (and fell in love with) mantas, and started sending the Manta Trust photos of ones she spotted, helping the organisation build a manta ray database in an area where they had no staff. She arrived in the Maldives in 2017 to work as a marine biologist on Dhaalu Atoll. Haines’ love affair with mantas began after she completed her zoology degree in 2016. Jessica Haines of the Manta Trust, a UK-based charity that aims to conserve manta rays through research and education The Maldives: a hotspot for manta rays At a time when mantas face more threats than ever – ranging from increased boat traffic to the devastation caused by over-fishing in nearby Sri Lanka – their decision to give birth here is a major win. This would be an important milestone, because it would back up Haines’ belief that this area of the Maldives’ Raa Atoll is a manta ray nursery – a place where they come to give birth, and a location to which the young will regularly return as a result.

She hopes that the device, and the information it reveals, could eventually lead to footage of a live manta birth. Haines shows me an ultrasound photo in which I can clearly see an unborn manta, its tiny wings wrapped around its body. The stored images are then downloaded back at base. Luckily the device – about the size of a bicycle pump – works in depths of up to 30 metres, so scientists can get pretty close. To do this, all marine researchers have to do is briefly hold the device five or six centimetres over the manta ray. The marine biologist and Manta Trust project manager is demonstrating how the world’s first underwater ultrasound device can provide invaluable information about the reproduction cycles of manta rays.ĭeveloped by scientists at the University of Cambridge, the device is purpose-built to obtain clear images of mantas’ reproductive structures. Even the most swanky underwater camera looks rather mundane compared to the gadget Jess Haines shows me.

Reef manta ray