Giant manta first to be declared endangered
Below, from top: Mantas and their gill-rakers in an Indonesian market.
DR ANDREA MARSHALL / MMF
Pictured: Giant manta.
THE GIANT MANTA RAY has become the first manta species to be listed as Endangered. The threat level to Mobula birostris has been raised from Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The Endangered listing covers some 16,000 species that cause grave conservation concerns.
Almost a third of sharks and rays are under threat of extinction. Mantas are now heavily targeted for their gillplates for use in Asian “medicine”, and the Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF) says this unsustainable trade is having a greater impact on giant mantas than on other manta species.