From Hanifaru Bay to the official Manta Trust collectible card
Each year from mid-May until December, Hanifaru Bay in the Maldives hosts one of the most spectacular marine phenomena ever observed, the world’s largest manta ray congregation, which attracts up to 200 manta rays at a time. This unique marine event is the result of the combination of the mantas' food and feeding method, as well as the specificities of the bay’s location and features. Wildlife photographer and environmentalist Hussain Aga Khan had the privilege to capture glimpses of mantas swimming through the plankton rich waters of Hanifaru Bay, so thick with plankton that it is sometimes called “plankton soup”, as seen on the card.
A collection of marine zooplankton composed of copepods, Daphnia (water fleas), and other tiny animals. https://www.britannica.com/science/plankton
The Manta Trust official collectible card. Each card includes a personalized badge with your name or nickname as proof of your support.
Designed by California based philanthropy cards producer philropy, the official Manta Trust collectible card is exclusively available at philropy.com/manta for $2.99 USD (about £2.35) in high-resolution digital format. $2.00 USD from each purchase will be redistributed to the Manta Trust and fund our conservation efforts.
Reef manta rays filter feeding in Hanifaru Bay. Picture by Prince Hussain Aga Khan.
Manta rays are filter feeders who, like whale sharks and baleen whales feed on plankton, a collection of diverse organisms that drift or float in the water. While slowly swimming, the mantas’ cephalic lobes unroll to funnel and guide the plankton into their mouths and over their gill plates that bring it to the back of their mouths into the esophagus.
Plankton can be found in all the oceans, and the dense streams that carry it around the world can even be visible from space. Its concentration varies according to numerous factors, such as water acidity, temperature, and latitude. Only a few locations like Hanifaru Bay, where the picture was taken, have been identified to gather exceptional concentration levels, resulting in the most spectacular congregation of manta rays ever recorded.
Hanifaru Bay is situated within a marine protected area on the eastern edge of Baa Atoll in the central atolls of the Maldives. From mid-May until December during the southwestern monsoon season, strong lunar tides overcome the force of the prevailing monsoonal current, sucking plankton-rich water from ocean depths outside the atoll back into the shallow atoll channels. In the channel next to Hanifaru Bay, these currents form a back eddy or reverse current that traps and concentrates plankton in the shallow bay.
Hanifaru marine protected area which includes Hanifaru Island (bottom), lagoon (central), and Hanifaru Bay (right hand side).
At this time of the year, Hanifaru Bay’s water becomes so thick with plankton that it is sometimes referred to as “plankton soup”. The bay turns into an abundant banquet, attracting schools of manta rays of over a hundred individuals at a time feeding off the coral reef. Whale sharks have also been observed feeding there. Mantas usually feed in a calm and patterned behavior, but the confined space and considerable number of individuals gathered result in a rare feasting ballet. Mantas like the one shown on the card can be observed gorging themselves, seemingly joyfully spinning through the waters, somersaulting, feeding in chains and sometimes forming cyclone-like loops that reach up to 15 meters in diameter.
Reef manta rays feeding in Hanifaru Bay. Picture by Prince Hussain Aga Khan.
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