SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
Manta Rays Tracked by Satellite
from Discovery News
Very little is known about giant manta rays, the world's largest of the ray species reaching up to 25 feet wide. Now, in the first study using satellite tracking of the creatures, scientists have teased out a few secrets, including that the beasts travel a lot.
The new study tracked six manta rays--four females, one male and a juvenile (undetermined sex)--for 13 days off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
"The satellite tag data revealed that some of the rays traveled more than 1,100 kilometers (621 miles) during the study period," study team member Matthew Witt, of the University of Exeter's Environment and Sustainability Institute, said in a statement. "The rays spent most of their time traversing coastal areas plentiful in zooplankton and fish eggs from spawning events."
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