A magyar nyelvű verzióhoz klikkeljen ide!
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Maldivian Manta Research Expedition
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International photographer from the DIVE magazine, Douglas Seifert arranged a special dive trip to photograph and to observe the amazing congregation of manta rays in the Maldives. He invited manta researchers Anne-Marie Kitchen-Wheeler and Dr. Csilla Ari to join him. The liveaboard MV Sea Spirit departed at the beginning of August from Male atoll toward Baa atoll to photograph and observe large numbers of feeding mantas which visit a recently discovered lagoon throughout the south west monsoon (May to November).
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'Every day we started with one or two early morning dives at the beautiful thilas where mantas might be seen at cleaning stations and then we went to the lagoon around midday to stay there until around six each day. Usually 40-70 mantas were seen in the lagoon, but there were days when approximately 150 specimens were present.’- explains Csilla. Over the two weeks Anne-Marie and Csilla identified over 160 different new individuals.
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'The big number of copepods (planktonic crustaceans) attracted the mantas that completely ignored the presence of scuba divers while feeding, allowing us to get some amazing photographs because we were so close. Being in the dense, plankton rich water was an unreal experience while these giant wild animals were swimming and barrell-rolling around us, often only about few inches away from us. Among the enormous and strong fins and the almost four feet wide open mouths, however, we never felt ourselves in danger.'
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'There were days, when one or two whale sharks joined the manta aggregation, which were crousing around the lagoon to find the best feeding spot. There was no need to follow them, we just had to wait near the mantas and the whale sharks would come swimming past again.'
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The experiments performed by Anne-Marie and Csilla were unique, no such tests were done on manta rays before to answer their questions. They mainly tested the effect of different visual stimuli on their social behavior. The experiments were interrupted several times by a passing, 8 metres long whale shark!
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'During this special charter we spent up to 8 hours a day in the water and then spent the evenings processing our research data and photos. Our unusual schedule was brilliantly accommodated by the crew on Sea Spirit and Captain Mohammed joined us to observe mantas and enjoy a picnic lunch on the dive boat between dives.'
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'During this exhausting trip we collected exceptional adventures and valuable new knowledge on manta rays, so on the way back to Male atoll we planned a fun dive. Finally we ended up taking our last photos in a really strong current with several reef sharks around us.'
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After the other members of the small group left the Sea Spirit, Csilla went back to Baa atoll and together with an other manta researcher Guy Stevens, and with a National Geographic photographer, Thomas Peschak, continued the observations with the support of the Four Seasons Resort. In the following days even more manta rays appeared in the lagoon and additional individuals could be identified, and their behavior could be observed further.
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More story on our Manta-adventures in the DIVE Magazine, issue October.
Join and help us to study these incredible and mysterious creatures next year!
E-mail for more information to: info@futureoceans.hu
More photos and videos on manta ray behavior soon!
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The research of Dr. Csilla Ari has been presented in the National Geographic Magazine
July 2009 (Hungary)
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©Copyright. Foundation for the Oceans of the Future 2003-2011. All rights reserved.
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