The world’s largest species of ray is the manta ray, an aquatic mammal. Though it can also be found in temperate areas, it is typically found in tropical and subtropical waters. It is known by the scientific name Mobula birostris.
Its exterior surface is smooth and covered in tubercles that resemble ridges. They are typically colored black, brown, or blue. Where there is an abundance of nutrients in the water, they consume zooplankton.
Photographer Kristian Lain saw a rosy pink manta at the Great Barrier Reef. He caught a fleeting glimpse of a pink manta ray swimming by while freediving off a Southern Island in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
“I was absolutely very confused and for once I thought my strobes were broken or numb or doing something explicitly absurd,” the man stated. “I had no idea that there were pink mantas in the World.”
Additionally, he added, “[The pink manta ray] was really calm. I recall feeling almost as if the enormous fish eyes were grinning (or at least very friendly). The entire exchange took between twenty and thirty minutes.
It has been established that this sea animal’s peculiar hue results from a genetic abnormality that causes melanin to be released in the form of reddish pigmentation, not from a disease or from the effects of its diet.
Image Credit & More Info; kristianlainephotography/instagram | kristianlainephotography.com | nationalgeographic.com