A review of manta and devil ray courtship and mating

M. Carpenter; A. P. Klimley; A. Boggio-Pasqua; M. D. Palacios; A. O. Armstrong; S. Hilbourne; M. Guerrero; M. Lapinski; K. Fuentes; G. M. W. Stevens

doi:10.1007/s10641-025-01779-4

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A review of manta and devil ray courtship and mating

Journal article

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Peer reviewed

A review of manta and devil ray courtship and mating

M. Carpenter, A. P. Klimley, A. Boggio-Pasqua, M. D. Palacios, A. O. Armstrong, S. Hilbourne, M. Guerrero, M. Lapinski, K. Fuentes and G. M. W. Stevens

Environmental Biology of Fishes, Vol.109, pp.1-21

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-025-01779-4

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Abstract

Mobulids

Mobula

copulation

fish behaviour

Elasmobranch

The family Mobulidae (genus Mobula), comprising manta and devil rays, represents a wide-ranging, threatened group of species. The courtship and mating behaviours of most mobulid species remain poorly understood, with the majority of the existing literature focusing on the reef manta ray (M. alfredi). For this study, new observations were compiled globally via Internet and YouTube searches as well as through engagement with the scientific community, with particular focus on the lesser-studied species. Each video or photographic observation was analysed and categorised based on known courtship stages. Here, we present 87 new records of courtship/mating behaviour from eight of the ten described mobulid species across 18 countries/territories. All seven stages were recorded in the study: Initiation (n = 17), Endurance (n = 71), Evasion (n = 52), Pre-copulation positioning (n = 21), Copulation (n = 9), Post-copulation holding (n = 2), and Separation (n = 6). The videos and photographs presented for the Atlantic pygmy devil ray (M. hypostoma) represent a first for this species, while the absence of any courtship or mating observations for the longhorned pygmy devil ray (M. eregoodoo) and the lack of new observations for the bentfin devil ray (M. thurstoni) demonstrate that further investigation is needed for the lesser-studied species. New records were compared to the existing literature and novel behaviours, such as male-to-male pseudo-courtship (documented in four species), were described. Our results substantially expand the body of knowledge on mobulid courtship and mating behaviours. These observations align with the previously described sequential framework, with additional refinements for individual species and novel delineations of species-specific behaviours within the defined stages.

Details

Title: A review of manta and devil ray courtship and mating
Authors: M. Carpenter (Corresponding Author) - University of Cape Town
A. P. Klimley - University of California, Davis
A. Boggio-Pasqua - Université de Toulouse
M. D. Palacios - Manta Trust (United Kingdom)
A. O. Armstrong - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
S. Hilbourne - Manta Trust (United Kingdom)
M. Guerrero - Manta Trust (United Kingdom)
M. Lapinski - Université de Montpellier
K. Fuentes - Manta Trust (United Kingdom)
G. M. W. Stevens - Manta Trust (United Kingdom)
Publication details: Environmental Biology of Fishes, Vol.109, pp.1-21
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
Date published: 2026
DOI: 10.1007/s10641-025-01779-4
ISSN: 1573-5133
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Data Availability: All the data used in this study are presented in its text and figures. Additional videos are available upon request.
Organisation Unit: School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991192143502621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Ecology; Marine & Freshwater Biology

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