“It goes to show, you don’t always need to visit Hanifaru Bay for manta encounters – sometimes they come to you!”

“It was so special to show guests cyclone-feeding mantas directly from the beach,” recalls Ellie Strike, MMRP Project Manager at Landaa Giraavaru. For the first time ever, the mantas were observed engaging in cyclone feeding – a rotating feeding circle resembling a cyclone – within a stone’s throw of the Resort’s Arrival Jetty. Across the archipelago, 176 manta rays were identified for the first time, bringing the total known Maldives reef manta ray population to 5,507 – the largest recorded in the world.ĭuring June 2022, Landaa Giraavaru’s researchers (and guests!) were also lucky enough to encounter more than 60 manta rays on the Resort’s House Reef. Having studied this group of gentle oceanic giants for nearly twenty years, the Manta Trust team at Landaa Giraavaru are best placed to offer extraordinary insights into their habits and lifestyles.ĭuring 2022’s manta ray season, The Manta Trust – whose researchers have run The Maldivian Manta Ray Project (MMRP) at Landaa Giraavaru since 2005 – estimated 6,083 manta ray sightings in the waters around the Resort.Īt nearby Hanifaru Bay, famed for its mass manta aggregations, an estimated 5,016 sightings were made. Between May and November, plankton-rich currents lure reef manta rays to local waters in their hundreds for graceful feeding frenzies. It’s one of the most exciting times of the year in the Maldives Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The Manta Trust team at Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru is once again preparing for the greatest underwater show on Earth, and thanks to its intensely researched “hot dates,” marine adventurers can now maximise their chance to swim with the world’s largest-known manta ray population. However, overfishing, pollution and other factors have caused populations to dwindle.Aerial view of Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru The Mekong River has the third-most diverse fish population in the world, according to the Mekong River Commission. In addition to the honor of having caught the record-breaker, the lucky fisherman was compensated at market rate, meaning he received a payment of around $600. Local residents nicknamed the stingray 'Boramy,' or 'full moon,' because of its round shape and because the moon was on the horizon when it was freed on June 14.

They think this may be a spawning hotspot for the species.

Researchers say it's the fourth giant stingray reported in the same area in the past two months, all of them females. We don't know about its ecology, about its migration patterns.' 'It's found throughout Southeast Asia, but we have almost no information about it. Its name, even its scientific name, has changed several times in the last 20 years,' Hogan said. 'The giant stingray is a very poorly understood fish. The team that rushed to the site inserted a tagging device near the tail of the mighty fish that will send tracking information for the next year, providing unprecedented data on giant stingray behavior in Cambodia. So about 70% of giant freshwater fish globally are threatened with extinction, and all of the Mekong species.' They're impacted by things like habitat fragmentation from dams, obviously impacted by overfishing. 'A lot of these big fish are migratory, so they need large areas to survive. So if they're fished before they mature, they don't have a chance to reproduce,' Hogan said. In particular, scientists fear a major program of dam building in recent years may be seriously disrupting spawning grounds. It is home to several species of giant freshwater fish but environmental pressures are rising. The Mekong River runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Largest manta ray world record