Here's One Ray You Don't Need To Shuffle Around

SARASOTA, FL -- Leyley the massive manta ray is back in her home waters, swimming at leisure in the Atlantic Ocean after receiving a thorough physical and tagging from marine aquarists at the Mote Marine Aquarium in Sarasota.

A marine scientist and a team of 20 marine aquarists released the giant manta ray back into the Atlantic Ocean after she'd been a resident of the 2.7-million gallon marine habitat at Atlantis, Paradise Island resort in the Bahamas for a year.

Leyley took full advantage of her temporary home in the island paradise, growing to 700-plus pounds with a wingspan of 11.4-feet.

Prior to releasing her, senior scientist Dr. Robert Hueter placed a satellite tag on Leyley, allowing the aquarium's scientists to track her migration and better understand the species' migratory behavior.

“We are outfitting this animal with two tags to gather finer-scale data on immediate post-release behavior and acquire some longer-term migration data,” Hueter said. “We look forward to tracking this animal’s journey and sharing it with the world."

Atlantis, Paradise Island is one of only two aquariums in the Western Hemisphere to care for and study manta rays. The transfer marked the 13th manta ray release for the resort, which aims to contribute to the data collection of the vulnerable species through its marine husbandry practices and research.

By the way, there is no need to do the ubiquitous Florida stingray shuffle when you're in the water with a giant manta ray. Like their stingray cousins, the manta ray has a long whip-like tail.. But it has no poisonous tail stinger, or barb, like the stingrays that prowl shallow waters along Florida's west coast during the same months you're dying to take a dip in the ocean.

While being in the ocean with these giant creatures can be intimidating, the giant manta ray (manta birostris) poses no threat to humans.. In fact, their propensity to gracefully swim among divers and snorkelers have earned them the heavenly nickname, "sea angels."

Leyley, an Anglo-Saxon name meaning "gift of God," is actually a bit of a shrimp in the world of giant manta rays. The largest recorded giant manta ray tipped the scales at 2,200 pounds and had a wingspan of 36 feet. It was accidentally caught by fishermen off the coast of Peru on April 27, 2015.

Unfortunately, like other marine life, man is the biggest threat to the giant manta ray.

Thousands of manta rays are caught as "by-catch" by industrial fisheries and commercial fishing boats throughout the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The sea angels are also intentionally hunted for use in Asian medicine and, like the gentle manatee, have been the victim of motor boat strikes.

Their numbers have been impacted by coral reef degradation, climate change that has reduced their plankton food source and ocean litter like the plastic straws many towns in Florida are now considering banning.

Always in search of its next meal, the manta ray has been known to accidentally ingest straws and other plastic litter, resulting in internal injuries and death. Additionally, they have been found entangled in fishing line and nets carelessly thrown into the ocean by fishermen, and actually drown as a result.

They are also susceptible to pollutants spilled from ocean vessels as well as contaminants that seep into the water from land sources.

Due to their dwindling numbers, in January the National Marine Fisheries Service listed the giant manta ray as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Leyley is the sixth manta ray to be tracked by the Mote Marine Aquarium. The public can follow Leyley and her migration patterns at ocearch.org.

Video via Atlantis