Scientists Identify a New Manta Ray Species, Just the Third Known in the World

Usually when scientists announce the discovery of a new species, it’s some small brown frog, a gnarly spider in a rainforest you’ll never visit, or a new sea-something.

But Earth still has some curveballs to throw at us—like a new species of manta ray, just the third known in the world.

These large fish belong to the suborder Elasmobranchii , which contains sharks, rays, and skates. Graceful and curious, the genus was thought to just contain two species: the giant oceanic manta ( Mobula birostris ) and the reef manta ( Mobula alfredi ).

Dr. Andrea Marshall is the world’s foremost expert on manta rays, and has spent over a dozen years diving with and photographing them. In 2009, it was a landmark paper of her observations that brought about the first separation between the giant an