However, the Manta Rays have a more pelagic life style which means they are always swimming and never spend time on the bottom of the ocean. Those rays are benthic dwellers, which mean they live on the sea floor and eat crustaceans and other organisms that live in the sand.
They are completely different species than the ray family such as stingrays, guitar rays, electric rays or skates etc. Manta Rays are one of most majestic and biggest pelagic fish in the ocean. Because these dive sites are big pinnacles with sometimes strong current that brings in planktons, so Manta Rays often visit these sites for feeding. Other feeding stations that Manta Rays often visit are Koh Tachai (part of the Similans National Park), Hin Deang and Hin Muang (about 65 km south of Koh Phi Phi). From what we have encountered so far at Koh Bon, there are about twenty resident Manta Rays that are identified by divers. Here in the Similans National Park, you can often spot Manta Rays at Koh Bon island, which is one of the main cleaning and feeding stations in Thailand. They just come to the cleaning station as a part of life behavior. However, cleaning doesn’t only occur when Mantas have wounds.
#LEGO SCOOBY DOO SKIN#
Cleaning station is a patch of reef where there are specific cleaner fish that will come up to pick parasites from the skin or inside the mouth of individual Mantas or sharks or other reef fish. Both species of Mantas, also other reef fish and pelagic species do go to cleaning stations.
This is when Mantas come to cleaning stations. When they do get bitten or wounded by fishing nets, their wound can heal pretty fast but still need to be cleaned. They also have a few predators such as sharks, orcas. Mantas are big animal and their skins need special care to get rid of parasite and stay healthy. The 2 best dive sites at the Similan islands to spot manta rays are Koh Bon’s manta cleaning station and Koh Tachai pinnacle. Scuba diving wise, the best place to see them are cleaning station or dive sites with strong currents. That’s why they come during a specify season. Manta rays feed on these micro-organism, scooping the water around. The seasonal migration of manta rays are due mainly to feeding habits, between January to May the hot weather and oceanic current brings a rich plankton current from he depth to the surface. Why does Thailand have a manta ray season and where to see them? The Manta ray season is at the same time of the Thailand whale shark season. Your best chance to see them is by doing a manta ray liveaboard trip (4-5 days is a good length, the longer the better, the more time you spend underwater increase your chances). They spend a lot of time as well at great depths.ĭuring the manta ray season in Thailand, high are the chances to see them, but remember than you only spend a minutes dive in a 24h day, so you need to be their at the right time, the ocean is big and we never know what we will see during our dive. Scientist have trouble understanding when and where they are migrating or spending their time when not seeing in the shallows. When they arrive they often stick around for many days or weeks at a time, then they might disappear for a couple days or weeks, and come back. But mostly, we see them the more often during early December to end of April. Sometimes we see them in November or every other month during the diving season. Generally, the season for Manta Ray here in the Similans are from mid-October to mid-May.
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