These manta rays form ‘friendships’ that last longer than a summer fling.

Pedro_P

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▼ Although many sharks are solitary creatures, their manta ray relatives are surprisingly social: They copy one another’s movements, play together, and will even curiously approach nearby humans. Now, scientists have discovered they also form “friendships” with their fellow rays—loose associations that can last for weeks or months at a time.
To understand the structure of manta ray communities, researchers tracked more than 500 groups of reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) for 5 years in the turquoise waters off the coast of northwest Indonesia (above). They photographed the rays at five gathering spots: three “cleaning stations,” where the mantas received full-body manicures from cleaner wrasse and copepods, and two popular feeding locations, where the rays slurped up shrimp and fish larvae (and sometimes their trusty cleaners, the copepods).
The researchers then identified individual rays from patterns of spots on their bodies and tracked their interactions. Some rays formed (▪ ▪ ▪)

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ajayjohri

Very interesting. Great to learn of this, and it is a reminder again that we know so precious little about our world, let alone the Universe!

Manikant Kant

We are destroying the oceans with pollution, plastic and all that can be dumped in there with scarce thought of the huge marine population.  Dolphins, so intelligent, and now these manta rays.

asr335704

Amazing. So they have the intelligence and can collaborate and group up differently.
Day by day, new discoveries are coming to our knowledge which makes me think, how many secrets are still hidden in the oceans?

jackoftrades

the world has so many mysteries hidden in plain sight and you get to learn everyday something new

themaskeditor

There are many species that are social. Even dolphins are known to be social, Whales.
Well we should learn with them on how to live with harmony and protect the environment and nature.