Species profile
Mobula alfredi
Reef manta ray
EN · Endangered — Endangered — very high risk of extinction in the wild
About this species
Reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) is part of the curated SpeciesWatch catalogue and is classified as Endangered. Reef manta rays were only recognised as a separate species from giant mantas in 2009, thanks to their spot patterns and genetics. Its recorded population direction is decreasing, so the category needs to be read alongside continuing losses of individuals or local populations.
Habitat, behaviour and ecological role
This profile associates the species with marine, coastal. These labels summarise environments used during different stages of its life rather than drawing an exact range boundary. They gather at cleaning stations where wrasses and butterflyfish remove parasites — sessions that can last over an hour. Its anatomy and behaviour are responses to those environments, while movement can connect distant places requiring different forms of management.
Why this species is at risk
Reef mantas give birth to a single pup after a 13-month pregnancy, one of the slowest reproductive rates of any fish, which makes them very vulnerable to fishing pressure. The catalogue records 3 principal pressures for this profile: Gill-plate trade, Bycatch, Tourism pressure. They should not be treated as isolated causes. Habitat change, exploitation, pollution, disease and climate stress can reinforce one another, while the importance of each pressure varies between regions and through time.
Conservation outlook
Fishery management needs enforceable limits, more selective gear, bycatch reduction and coordinated compliance across jurisdictions. Direct protection needs to combine enforcement with conflict prevention, demand reduction and local benefits that make coexistence viable. Actions need long-term monitoring and revision as evidence changes; a positive intervention in one place does not by itself represent recovery across the species.
Editorial review: 2026-08-21
Threat factors
Known occurrences
Dots are georeferenced occurrence records from OBIS (marine) and GBIF (global), not individual animals and not a complete range map. Up to 500 recent API results are cached; the profile renders at most 500 points.
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