Her name is “Lefty” – a very friendly and charismatic Manta that left a very strong impression on me. Note the paralyzed cephalic fin, and scars on the left side. Her name is “Lefty”, and she was first identified back in 1979, about 35 years ago! She has a paralyzed left Cephalic fin, and the scars shown on her left wing are from a propeller strike. Their site is well worth the visit, and contains interesting videos, pictures, statistics and information. This enabled me to look-up the injured Manta shown in the picture below at an advocacy group ( ) that studies the local population. The black markings underneath each Manta are unique, similar to a fingerprint. Resembling an underwater hybrid between a fish and a bird, they can reach a width of 5 m (16.5 ft). When not feeding, the flaps spiral-up and point straight forward for streamlining. The pair of unique cephalic flaps, on each side of the front, are used to direct food into the mouth. A Manta pulls up out of a dive over the “campfire”. Over the years, the Manta rays have become conditioned that this is a favorable feeding area. This, with the aid of the other diver’s lights attracts plankton, which is the primary food source of Manta rays. The divemaster places a crate of divelights- the “campfire”- in an area of sand with surrounding corals in just over 30′ of water. Indirectly, the divers are actually feeding the Mantas with their lights. The Manta Ray Night Dive takes place just off shore from the Sheraton Keahou Bay Resort, at a site that divers call “Mantaville”, for obvious reasons. This is a good sign-it’s going to be a good night! This was taken in the late afternoon, ISO 400, f/8 at 1/125s. My first Manta Ray at Mantaville, Hawaii. Exciting and visually stunning, this dive will stay with you forever. In no other place can you see Mantas as consistently, in numbers, and up so close and personal that they will pass within inches of you. It’s consistently rated as one of the top ten dives in the world. The Manta ray night dive is Hawaii’s signature dive and snorkel. July, 2015 A Manta Ray glides effortlessly overhead in the late afternoon sun at “Mantaville”.
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