Researchers Document the Rare Ornate Eagle Ray—One of the World’s Most Elusive Ray Species
Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF) researchers have been diving and studying the coast of southern Mozambique for 20 years and were utterly amazed when they encountered one of the world’s rarest elasmobranchs—the ornate eagle ray—twice within a single week. MMF’s field researcher and logistics coordinator Janneman Conradie was lucky enough to encounter this creature (Aetomylaeus vespertilio) on a research dive in the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park (BANP) in May 2021. Just 3 days later, he spotted another during an opportunistic drone flight in the Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary (VCWS), approximately 55 km south of the first sighting.
“The moment I saw it, I knew it was something special and unusual,” says Conradie. “I had to double-check my footage because I couldn’t believe what I had seen. Then to see another within a few days was beyond belief. The Bazaruto Seascape is always full of surprises.”
Ornate eagle rays can be recognized by the distinctive pattern of dark stripes and reticulated spots on their backs, and long whip-like tails. These spots have been used in the past to identify specific individuals, but on this occasion, we were unable to confirm whether this was the same individual seen twice, or two separate rays.
Although the largest of all eagle ray species, ornate eagle rays are extremely rare, with few records from fisheries and a limited number of sightings in the wild. The majority of encounters are recorded from Australia and the Indo-West Pacific region, such as in the Maldives, Seychelles, Palau, and India. Only one confirmed report exists from southern Africa, where a single ornate eagle ray was caught and released alive by a sport angler in Richards Bay, South Africa in 2018. While distribution maps show that the species occurs in Mozambique, MMF researchers were unable to find any specific reports to confirm the location and nature of previous sightings.
©Manfred Vijars
“With rare and threatened species like this, each new record is an important addition to scientific knowledge of their distribution, especially from locations where the species has not yet been documented,” says Dr. Stephanie Venables, MMF Senior Scientist and lead author on the paper.
We reported these recent sightings in a short communication paper in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. These are the first confirmed records of the ornate eagle ray from the Inhambane Province and represent a range extension further north along the south-east African coast to this area.
Considering the directed shark and ray fisheries that are present in the region and the threat of capture as bycatch in unselective fishing gears, such as gill nets, we recommend the ornate eagle ray be added to the REPMAR list of protected species in Mozambique, which includes manta rays, devil rays, and whale sharks.
It is a promising sign that the rays were sighted in the protected waters of the BANP and VCWS, but these animals are highly mobile and will travel outside of protected areas into high-risk fishing zones. The more conservation areas that can be created in Mozambican waters, the more protected habitat will be available as a refuge for rare and threatened species like these.
For questions about this press release, please contact:
Dr. Stephanie Venables – Senior Scientist, Marine Megafauna Foundation
Email: steph@marinemegafauna.org
The Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF) was created in 2009 to research, protect, and conserve the populations of threatened marine megafauna around the world. MMF’s headquarters are located in Tofo, Mozambique, where they operate as Associação Megafauna Marinha (AMM). ‘Megafauna’ are large marine species such as sharks, rays, and sea turtles. For further details, please see www.marinemegafauna.org or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
