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Manta rays in deep-diving mode: why do they venture down into the darkness?
They glide majestically through tropical oceans and are considered peaceful giants. But manta rays lead a double life. In addition to their well-known stays in warm surface waters, they repeatedly venture on spectacular dives to extreme depths. New research shows that some of these animals venture more than 1,200 metres into the deep sea, into icy, lightless zones that are considered hostile to life. What drives the rays there?
Depth record exceeds previous expectations
An international team of scientists from New Zealand, Indonesia and Peru has equipped 24 giant manta rays (Mobula birostris) with high-precision sensors. Data analysis confirms that manta rays can dive to depths of up to 1,250 metres – almost twice as deep as previously documented. Earlier measurements assumed a maximum depth of 700 metres.
‘Our data shows that giant manta rays venture far offshore to depths that we previously thought impossible,’ explains study leader Calvin Beale from Murdoch University in Perth.
The journey into the unknown: not a coincidence, but a strategy
Deep-sea dives are never haphazard. It is striking that the animals travel long horizontal distances immediately after descending, sometimes over 200 kilometres. The researchers suspect that the rays use the extreme conditions at depth to gather information about currents, temperatures and oxygen content.
These differences in the water column could serve as landmarks for the animals, similar to a navigation system in the three-dimensional space of the open ocean.
‘By diving down and recording these environmental stimuli, they create a mental map of the sea,’ says Beale.
The deep sea as a source of information, not as a habitat
The rays only spend a few minutes in the cold, dark depths. This contradicts the theory that they are avoiding predators or searching for food there. Rather, the deep sea appears to be a gigantic store of information: temperature gradients, oxygen layers or light reflections could help the manta rays plan their migration routes and orient themselves in the seemingly endless expanse of the ocean.
A particularly large number of these deep dives have been documented off the coast of New Zealand, possibly because more complex oceanographic structures prevail there.
Significance for marine conservation and research
Manta rays are an endangered species. Their migrations extend across national borders and apparently also across different layers of the ocean. The study highlights the importance of international cooperation in protecting the oceans.
‘The deep sea remains one of the least explored habitats on Earth – yet it influences the global climate and the marine food chain,’ Beale emphasises. ‘Our findings show that migratory species such as manta rays depend on a healthy interaction between coastal and open ocean areas.’
Conclusion
The spectacular dives of manta rays at depths of over 1,200 metres are more than just a biological curiosity. They demonstrate how complex the navigational behaviour of these animals is and how little we know about the invisible network of the oceans. The deep sea is not a dead space, but an active part of the global ecosystem, whose secrets are only gradually coming to light.
Manta rays do not dive down to hunt or flee. They dive to understand.
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