Lady Elliot Island, at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, has been the scene in which this rare and special type of stingray has been sighted. It was discovered by marine biologist Jacinta Shackleton.
According to Asia Haines from Project Manta, around 80 of the 1,400 individual mantas identified on Lady Elliot Island are melanistic, meaning that 7.5% of the local population display this dark coloration.
Melanism describes those living things whose body tissues darken as a result of excess melanin and results in jet-black color variations of a large number of animals, including reptiles, birds, seals, or even big cats.
Manta rays are very sociable creatures despite their enormous size, as they can be more than twice the size of the tallest human. These reef stingrays ( Manta alfredi ) grow to a maximum of 5 meters from end to end.
The explanation about why its black coloration is a mystery but a 2019 study ruled out some reasons, for example, it has nothing to do with camouflage, since an investigation did not observe differences in survival rates between white blankets. and those with jet coloration.
Be that as it may, the photographs of marine biologist Jacinta Shackleton are spectacular.
