---
title: Giant Oceanic Manta Ray (Mobula birostris)
scientific_name: Mobula birostris
common_name: Giant Oceanic Manta Ray
taxon: Mantas and devil rays
conservation_status: EN - Endangered
published: 2024-01-03T04:15:19.460Z
updated: 2026-08-14T11:57:51.057Z
tags: Giant Oceanic Manta Ray, Mobula birostris, Mantas and devil rays, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/rays/mantas-and-devil-rays/giant-oceanic-manta-ray
---

# Giant Oceanic Manta Ray (*Mobula birostris*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Mantas and devil rays (*Mobula*)
- **Size:** up to 7 m across
- **Weight:** 3000 kg
- **Depth:** 0-1000 m
- **Diet:** Filter feeder
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Very Rare
- **Habitat:** Open water and offshore reefs, at cleaning stations and feeding aggregations
- **Reproduction:** Live-bearer, Gonochoric
- **CITES:** Appendix I
- **Conservation status:** EN - Endangered

## How to recognise it

- enormous diamond-shaped disc, black above with a white shoulder pattern
- a pair of horn-like cephalic fins rolled up beside the mouth, unrolled while feeding
- mouth at the front of the head, not underneath as in a devil ray
- disc up to 7 m across

The largest ray in the world: a diamond of a body up to 7 m (23 ft) across and 1,500 kg, black above with a white shoulder pattern and a mouth carried at the front of the head rather than underneath. The two horns beside it are rolled-up fins.

Unrolled, those cephalic fins funnel water into the mouth, and the manta filters plankton through a mesh of gill plates that works like nothing else in the sea: the water spirals through and the particles are flicked back into the throat without ever touching the filter, which is why it does not clog. Engineers have copied the geometry for industrial filtration.

It has the largest brain of any fish by a wide margin, most of it the regions handling learning, coordination and social behavior. Mantas pass mirror tests in a way that suggests self-recognition, visit the same cleaning stations for decades and appear to recognize individual divers.

Every animal is identifiable. The pattern of dark spots on the pale belly is unique and fixed for life, and photographs of it feed global identification databases - which is how researchers know an individual seen off one coast can turn up 1,500 km away. The species is Endangered, killed for its gill plates.

## Also known as

- **English:** Oceanic Manta Ray, Giant Manta, Giant Ocean Manta Ray
- **Arabic:** شيطان البحر المحيطي الضخم, شيطان البحر المحيطي
- **Hebrew:** מנטה ענק
- **French:** Diable de mer, Raie manta géante, Raie manta océanique
- **Italian:** Manta gigante indo-pacifica, Manta gigante oceanica
- **German:** Mantarochen, Riesenmanta
- **Spanish:** Manta Cornuda, Manta Diablo, Manta Raya
- **Turkish:** manta vatozu
- **Portuguese:** Manta Oceânica, Jamanta
- **Dutch:** Reuzen manta, Reuzenmanta
- **Polish:** diabeł morski
- **Czech:** Manta obrovská, Rejnok manta
- **Japanese:** オニイトマキエイ, Oniitomakiei
- **Chinese:** 雙吻前口蝠鱝, 飛魴仔, 鬼蝠魟
- **Ukrainian:** Манта
- **Russian:** Манта, гигантский морской дьявол
- **AF:** Duiwelvis
- **CYM:** manta
- **DA:** Djævlerokke
- **FI:** paholaisrausku
- **HU:** atlanti ördögrája
- **LT:** didžioji manta
- **NO:** Djevlerokke
- **SL:** orjaška manta
- **TH:** ปลากระเบนราหูยักษ์

## Scientific synonyms

- *Brachioptilon hamiltoni* Hamilton & Newman, 1849
- *Cephaloptera stelligera* Günther, 1870
- *Cephalopterus manta* Bancroft, 1829
- *Cephalopterus vampyrus* Mitchill, 1824
- *Ceratoptera ehrenbergi* Müller & Henle, 1841
- *Ceratoptera ehrenbergii* Müller & Henle, 1841
- *Ceratoptera johnii* Müller & Henle, 1841
- *Manta americana* Bancroft, 1829
- *Manta birostris* (Walbaum, 1792)
- *Manta brevirostris* (Walbaum, 1792)
- *Manta ehrenbergii* (Müller & Henle, 1841)
- *Manta hamiltoni* (Hamilton & Newman, 1849)
- *Manta raya* Baer, 1899
- *Raja birostris* Walbaum, 1792
- *Raja manatia* Bloch & Schneider, 1801

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/rays/mantas-and-devil-rays/giant-oceanic-manta-ray)*
*Updated: August 14, 2026*