Evidence of reproductive and feeding habitat for manta rays off Florida’s Atlantic coast

Abstract

Manta rays Mobula cf. birostris aggregate off the Atlantic coast of Florida each spring, typically March through May. Eighteen courtship events were documented and four zooplankton samples collected opportunistically during boat-based and aerial surveys in 2021–2024. Eighty-three percent of courtship events involved only two individuals, and four stages courtship (initiation, endurance, evasion, pre-copulation positioning) were observed. Breaching events were observed on every day, except one, that courtship events were documented by boat survey. All zooplankton samples were dominated by copepods with bivalve larvae, chaetognaths, and echinoderm larvae also being abundant. Zooplankton biomass ranged from 23.9 to 39.6 mg m⁻³. These are the first published records of courtship in Mobula cf. birostris, as well as the first insights into its target surface prey. Identifying potential manta ray critical habitat, such as feeding and reproductive areas, especially in data-deficient regions such as the western Atlantic, is a necessary step for conservation.