A RAY OF SUNSHINE
The pink Reef Manta Ray was first spotted in the southern Great Barrier Reef by dive instructor Ryan Jeffrey, who was leading a group of divers off the coast of Lady Elliot Island, according to a 2015 report by Rachel Riga for ABC News. Jeffrey noticed that the underside of the eleven-foot male, usually white in Reef Manta Rays, was an unmistakable shade of pink.
“I came across this strange looking one, [he] had strange shading underneath. [He was] very interactive with me, so [he] hung around with me for about 30 minutes,” he said. “There [were] other Mantas who came in and you could really see the distinct difference of coloration underneath. I just started taking photos and videos because I wanted to record [them]. I’ve been diving out there for five years, a few thousand dives here and never come across that on any of our Manta Rays before, so it was really something different for me. For the last few days I’ve been out there in the same spot, hoping to see him again but he hasn’t made another appearance.”
Since then, the pink Manta Ray, who was nicknamed Inspector Clouseau after the bumbling protagonist from the Pink Panther movies, has only been spotted 10 more times, the most notable of which were the 2020 photographs taken by Kristian Laine, as reported by Bethany Augliere in a 2020 report for National Geographic.
“I had no idea there were pink Mantas in the world, so I was confused and thought my strobes were broken or doing something weird,” says Laine, whose photographs posted on Instagram have since gone viral.
GIANTS OF THE REEF
The Reef Manta Ray (Mobula alfredi) is a species of Ray in the Mobulidae family and one of the world’s largest Rays. They are the second-largest Ray species among commonly recognized ones, only being topped by the enormous Oceanic Manta Ray.
Reef Manta Ray disc widths range from 3 to 3.5 meters (9.8 to 11.5 feet), with a maximum size of about 5.5 meters. (18 feet).
The Reef Manta Ray can be found across the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific, but there are just a few records from the tropical East Atlantic and none from the West Atlantic or East Pacific. In comparison to the huge Oceanic Manta Ray, the Reef Manta Ray prefers shallower, more coastal settings, albeit local migrations have been documented.
IN THE PINK OF HEALTH
Inspector Clouseau is the only known Pink Manta Ray in the world, but what causes his brilliant pink hue? Well, it isn’t diet or health issues, says researcher Kathy Townsend from Project Manta, as reported by Katherine Wu in a 2020 article for Smithsonian Magazine. Because the large male is usually found performing courtship behaviors around females, it is unlikely that he is suffering from physical illness.
Townsend’s fellow Project Manta researcher Amelia Armstrong was able to take a small skin sample from Inspector Clouseau and the team was able to rule out diet or infection as the cause as well. Instead, Project Manta’s leading theory is that the Manta Ray has some sort of genetic mutation that changes the expression of melanin.
Asia Armstrong, a research assistant for the group, says, “Understanding the origin of this genetic mutation may help inform us” about how color evolved in Mantas.
According to Solomon David, an aquatic ecologist at Louisiana’s Nicholls State University, the mutation may be a condition called erythrism, which can cause an animal’s pigment to be reddish or pink. This is similar to albinism, which causes an animal to express a white color, or melanism, which expresses a black color.
BLENDING IN OR STANDING OUT
Reef Mantas are usually one of three colors: all-black, all-white, or black-and-white. The latter, which is the most frequent, has a countershading pattern in which the Fish has a black back and a white belly. When viewed from above, their dark backs blend in with the darker water below, while their light bellies blend in with the sunny surface — a structure that is supposed to give safety from predators such as Sharks. The Manta Ray is pink because of erythrism, which can be similar to albinism, but instead of being pale white, the skin is reddish or pink.
So is Inspector Clouseau in danger because of his striking color? Probably not, says Guy Stevens, CEO and co-founder of the Manta Trust, a U.K.
based organization. The Manta’s unusual color should not affect his survival or susceptibility to predators. This is primarily due to the Reef Manta’s enormous size; an adult can easily weigh more than a ton.
“They are big when they are born, and they grow quite quickly in their first few years to make them large enough that only the biggest of marine predators prey on them,” says Stevens. “It just goes to show — nature will always surprise you. Now the search is on for a blue Manta.”
