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Baby manta rays hunker down close to coasts before facing the open ocean’s dangers - Frontiers

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Credit: Jeffry Madrigal. Baby manta rays escape predators by avoiding them until they grow large enough for a face-off, a new study has found. Tracking data shows that young giant manta rays in Central America strictly stick to comparatively safe coastal areas for the first few years of their life. When they’re large enough that natural enemies are a lesser concern, they leave these sanctuaries and embark on journeys spanning hundreds of kilometers. This shift in space use allows mantas to grow in safety before facing another type of danger in the open oceans: industrial fisheries and vessel strikes in unprotected waters. The authors say underwater corridors are needed to protect adult mantas on their treks. Giant manta rays can grow up to nine meters long with a disc size of seven meters across and weigh up to 2,000kg. This size leaves them with very few natural enemies once they reach adulthood at around eight to ten years old. But giant manta ray babies, called pups, cannot rely on their size to protect them from predators that live in the open ocean, including several species of shark and orcas.

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