{"id":2206517,"date":"2026-07-29T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2206517"},"modified":"2026-08-12T20:35:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:35:50","slug":"ewwww-a-diver-was-filming-a-manta-ray-when-this-happened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/ewwww-a-diver-was-filming-a-manta-ray-when-this-happened\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cEwwww!\u201d A diver was filming a manta ray, when this happened"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr \/>\n<article id=\"sprylab_purple_content\">\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"purple-inner-container purple-content-body-inner\">\n<p>Even when you have regular encounters with incredible marine creatures, they still have an endless capacity to surprise.<\/p>\n<p>So, although dive instructor\u00a0Keren Flor\u00a0had seen an oceanic manta ray (<em>Mobula birostris<\/em>) leave a trail of bright yellow excrement behind before, she decided to hit record on her camera when spotting this striking phenomenon on a dive near Roca Partida (part of the Revillagigedo Islands off the coast of Mexico).<\/p>\n<p>But what happened next was something entirely new.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was the second time I\u2019ve seen a manta pooping, but the very first time that I\u2019ve seen another manta scooping the poop!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While fish such as remoras are often seen feeding on the\u00a0faeces of manta rays, Flor\u2019s video captures the moment another manta ray heads straight towards the cloud.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video src=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/resources\/content\/f347d34d-c1a6-4a00-b570-b78c2dcb3211\/a8d0c1ca-5cc9-4fac-96b7-799c6c02a1bb\/3d5898f3-69d4-467c-a069-0ac6880097b3\/GX012769_1779564187435.mp4?preview=false&amp;platform=WEB&amp;deviceId=e8714ba6-3eb1-433a-9829-d7089fa368a8\" poster=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-21-at-11.42.17.png\" preload=\"none\" controls=\"controls\" width=\"640\" height=\"900\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Watch the moment a manta ray appears to ingest the excrement of another manta. Credit: Keren Flor<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This behaviour hasn\u2019t been widely observed in manta rays before, it\u2019s thought that mantas do it because their waste is still rich in nutrients after digesting huge quantities of zooplankton and\u00a0krill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my group of eight divers, I was the only one who filmed this,\u201d explains Flor. \u201cI found it fascinating to witness a behaviour that we humans would find disgusting \u2013 all my fellow divers said \u2018Ewwwww\u2019 when they saw the video!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once manta rays have finished excreting, they then carry out intestinal eversions. This involves briefly squeezing their intestines out of their bodies, which flushes out any undigested bits of krill shell, as well as potential parasites.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><em>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-gb\/news\/offbeat\/ewwww-a-diver-was-filming-a-manta-ray-when-this-happened\/ar-AA28pQ6Z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">article<\/a> by Sophie Ellis was first published by MSN.com <\/em><em>on 22 July 2026. Lead Image: Keren Flor.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>What You Can Do<\/h2>\n<p>Help to save wildlife by donating as little as $5 \u2013 It only takes a minute.<\/p>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n<div><script src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/install-popup-button.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" defer><\/script><a class=\"dbox-donation-button\" style=\"background: #ededed; color: #333; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; display: inline-block; font-size: 13px; padding: 8px 10px 8px 10px; -webkit-border-radius: 2px; -moz-border-radius: 2px; border-radius: 4px; box-shadow: 0 1px 0 0 #a5a5a5;\" href=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/focusing-on-wildlife-needs-your-support?amount=25\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">DONATE NOW<\/a><\/div>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=75&amp;resize=75&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=100&amp;resize=100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=150&amp;resize=150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=240&amp;resize=240&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=320&amp;resize=320&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=500&amp;resize=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=640&amp;resize=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=800&amp;resize=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1024&amp;resize=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1280&amp;resize=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1600&amp;resize=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-161632\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"28\" title=\"\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both;\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><em>Focusing on Wildlife supports <a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wildlife-charities-supported-by-focusing-on-wildlife\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">approved wildlife conservation organizations,<\/a> which spend at least 80 percent of the money they raise on actual fieldwork, rather than administration and fundraising.<\/em><i><\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even when you have regular encounters with incredible marine creatures, they still have an endless capacity to surprise. So, although dive instructor\u00a0Keren Flor\u00a0had seen an oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris) leave a trail of bright yellow excrement behind before, she decided to hit record on her camera when spotting this striking phenomenon on a dive [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1178,"featured_media":2206518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/d2rj6cu2ik1biv.cloudfront.net\/193c804a-a673-47bd-b09b-11baf4822a17\/9ac494a4-627d-4fea-a827-dcf588dd6f96\/a8d0c1ca-5cc9-4fac-96b7-799c6c02a1bb\/thumbnails\/7589b3c3-87bd-4de5-968d-467f3b59f3a6.jpg?w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6985,5],"tags":[3679],"class_list":["post-2206517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wildlife","tag-manta-rays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2206517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2206518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2206517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2206517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2206517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}