The Giant Manta Ray Asked Them For Help. They Will Never Forget The Way She Said ‘Thanks.’

A team of divers were exploring the ocean floor at the Bat Islands, Costa Rica, when this huge manta ray approached them. They noticed she had a net tangled around her, and Brian Thompson swam in closer to reach and gently cut the rope off. They kept the net as a trophy, and gave pieces of it to all the divers on their team. It was fortunate that they divers were in the right place to help this poor manta ray. Giant mantas are a vulnerable species and have an elevated risk of extinction.They face a myriad of threats including pollution, fishing nets, and being targeted directly by fishermen looking to use their gill rakers in Chinese medicine. But the biggest factor to their dying population is their slow reproductive rate. Normally they’re only seen in the wild because most aquariums are too small to hold them. Besides a few special locations where tourists can watch them congregate, they’re usually hard to find despite their huge size.