Habitat use and movement patterns of reef manta rays Mobula alfredi in southern Mozambique

Mutualism promotes site selection in a large marine planktivore

“…Early in the day was also when individuals were more likely to spend longer periods of time in the cleaning station area. Similar findings have been reported for manta rays in other regions (Venables et al., 2020) and for other elasmobranchs (Oliver et al., 2011). Diurnal visitation likely reflects the behavior of the cleaner fish, since L .…”

“…The reef manta ray is a large, mobile planktivorous species that demonstrates site affinity to reef environments, including cleaning stations (Figure 1). This affinity has been documented at aggregation sites in the Maldives (Stevens, 2016), eastern Australia (Couturier F I G U R E 1 Reef manta ray Mobula alfredi attending a cleaning station at Lady Elliot Island, Australia et al, 2018), Indonesia (Germanov et al, 2019), the Seychelles , and Mozambique (Venables et al, 2020). These studies have documented that manta rays visit cleaning stations, but the methods used in most studies have limitations for determining behavior and fine-scale spatial use.…”

Satellite Tagging and Photographic Identification Reveal Connectivity Between Two UNESCO World Heritage Areas for Reef Manta Rays

“…In Australia, M. alfredi is coastally distributed to ∼30 • S on the east and west coasts, with a continuous northerly distribution between coastlines (Armstrong et al, 2020, Couturier et al, 2012. Although capable of long-distance movements of at least 1100 km (Armstrong et al, 2019), records for M. alfredi suggest they typically traverse shorter distances and display strong site affinity (Clark, 2010;Couturier et al, 2011;Germanov and Marshall, 2014;Germanov et al, 2019;Jaine et al, 2014;Peel, 2019;Venables et al, 2020). With an exceptionally low maximum population growth rate (Dulvy et al, 2014), M. alfredi is particularly susceptible to human impacts and is classified as "Vulnerable" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.…”

Sublethal Injuries and Physical Abnormalities in Maldives Manta Rays, Mobula alfredi and Mobula birostris

“…It is possible that shallow feeding, cleaning, or nursery sites (e.g., in lagoons or bays) offer manta rays some reduction in predation risk, giving large sharks fewer opportunities to successfully attack because they are less able to approach the ray from below (Heupel et al, 2007;Stevens, 2016;Stevens et al, 2018a;Stewart et al, 2018a). In contrast, the southern Mozambique coastline is predominantly exposed with strong currents and deeper rocky reefs (Venables, 2020), and M. alfredi exhibit wide-ranging movements within the region (Marshall et al, 2011;Venables et al, 2020). It is thought that their major food sources are further offshore in deeper water, so they may be less resident to inshore reefs (Venables, 2020;Venables et al, 2020).…”

“…In contrast, the southern Mozambique coastline is predominantly exposed with strong currents and deeper rocky reefs (Venables, 2020), and M. alfredi exhibit wide-ranging movements within the region (Marshall et al, 2011;Venables et al, 2020). It is thought that their major food sources are further offshore in deeper water, so they may be less resident to inshore reefs (Venables, 2020;Venables et al, 2020). Spending more time in open water is likely to increase a manta ray's exposure to predatory attack (Stevens, 2016).…”