Cart Cart | 0

Sightings

Submit a sighting

Sightings Map

Oceanic manta rays are a globally endangered species. Currently the biggest threat to Aotearoa’s manta rays is the lack of data. We simply don’t know enough about these animals to protect them.

By submitting your sightings to Manta Watch NZ, you are directly contributing to our national research and conservation efforts.

Submit your images and sightings on the form below and in return, we will provide feedback about the manta(s) you encountered and if your manta is new to our database you will be given the opportunity to name your manta ray!

Download our Data Collection Guide so you know exactly what type of data we would like you to collect so that we can get the most value out of your sightings.

Finally, to ensure that your manta rays encounters are safe and respectful for all concerned please check out and download our Best Practice Guide.

 

Manta Images & Videos:

If you have high-resolution manta media you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you. We can also receive files via free transfer services such as WeTransfer, Dropbox, or Google Drive. Please get in touch by email at mantawatchnewzealand@gmail.com for more information.

Total Sightings: 794

  • Citizen Scientists: 562
  • Fisheries: 28
  • Manta Watch NZ: 204

= Spinetail Devil Rays

= Oceanic Manta Rays

Submit a Sighting

Looks good

Please provide your name

Looks good

Please provide a valid email

Looks good

Please provide a date

Looks good

Please provide a time

Looks good

Please provide a location

Not required

Looks good

Please provide a valid value for latitude degrees, between -90 and 90.

Looks good

Please provide a valid value for latitude minutes, between 0 and 59.

Looks good

Please provide a valid value for latitude seconds, between 0 and 59.

Looks good

Please provide a valid value for longitude degrees, between -180 and 180.

Looks good

Please provide a valid value for longitude minutes, between 0 and 59.

Looks good

Please provide a value for longitude seconds, between 0 and 59.

Species Encountered

Spinetail Devil Ray
Ocean Manta Ray

Colour Morph

Looks good

Please provide a number

Behaviour Observed*

Cruising

Moving slowly on or just under water surface

Feeding

Backwards rolls at surface / actively moving through zooplankton i.e. krill swarms

Cleaning

Hovering just above the reef and interacting with small reef fish

Courtship

One or more pairs of manta rays, one actively chasing or shadowing the other

No files chosen

We would love as many images and/or bits of footage as possible. The more you share, the more we can learn about your encounter.

However please note that we currently only accept uploads of up to 20 files, with a total size limit of 1GB. If you have additional photos or footage to share, we'd love to hear from you at mantawatchnewzealand@gmail.com.

Example of a good ID photo, showing the dorsal zone of a manta ray Example of a good ID photo, showing the belly of a manta ray and it's spots clearly

Note: Images / footage that clearly capture the highlighted area can be used to ID your manta ray.

Not required

Not required

Submitting your sighting...

Please don't close your window or navigate away from the page, or your submission could fail.

Uploading images can take anywhere between 1 - 5 minutes depending on the size of the files. Thank you for your patience!

Sighting submitted!

Thanks for taking the time to submit a sighting. If you would like to learn about other ways you can support our mahi, check out the link below.

Submission failed.

There was an error submitting your sighting. Please try again or report this issue to our team at mantawatchnewzealand@gmail.com