A toxic red tide has returned to San Francisco Bay, raising fears of a reprise of last summer’s unusually large fish die-off. Experts report that swimming algae was detected last weekend in rust-colored water samples from Emeryville, the Berkeley Marina, Albany and Marin County’s Richardson Bay and Muir Beach. While no fish deaths have yet […]
Tag: rays
Strong marine protected areas credited with manta ray surge in Indonesia
Ocean-dwelling sharks and rays, including the majestic reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi), have declined globally by an estimated 71% since 1970 due to fishing. But a new study of reef manta rays in eastern Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, combined with an exciting discovery from Komodo National Park further west earlier this year, suggests reef mantas […]
In Sri Lankan waters, endangered but unprotected rays encounter a killing field
COLOMBO — When fishermen in southern Sri Lanka recently caught a giant oceanic manta ray, they needed a backhoe to haul it out of the water once they reached land. Weighing 800 kilograms, or nearly 1,800 pounds, the catch drew much local attention. It sold for 170,000 rupees, or about $470, and soon this endangered […]
One quarter of sharks and rays threatened with extinction
One quarter of all shark and ray species are threatened with extinction, according to a new study published in the open-access journal eLife. The paper analyzed the threat and conservation status of 1,041 species of chondrichthyans—the class of fish whose skeletons are made of cartilage instead of bone which includes sharks, rays, skates and chimaeras—and […]
Manta ray tourism worth 28 times more than killing them for Traditional Chinese Medicine
A new study in the open access journal PLoS ONE estimates that manta rays are worth $140 million a year in tourism across 23 countries, significantly outweighing the worth of manta ray gill plates, which have become the newest craze in Traditional Chinese Medicine. “As an example in Indonesia, revenue to fishermen from manta gill […]