Fuvahmulah Oceanic Mantas: Beyond the Tiger Sharks

That ray you just saw may never come back. Not because something went wrong, but because this is how oceanic mantas seem to live here: researchers have identified 778 of them at Fuvahmulah, and almost all were seen only once, passing through between March and May.

To understand why, we first need to look at the island itself, because Fuvahmulah is not built like the rest of the Maldives.

An island with no lagoon

Most of the Maldives is made of ring-shaped atolls around calm lagoons. Fuvahmulah is different. It is a single oceanic reef without a lagoon. A shallow coral slope goes from the surface to about 10 m, and then the reef drops steeply to around 500 m.

So the deep blue water comes almost to the edge of the reef. That is why so many open-ocean animals pass close to this little island. Besides the tiger sharks, the island's Important Shark and Ray Area factsheet lists silvertip sharks, grey reef sharks, scalloped hammerheads, pelagic threshers and oceanic manta rays.

The Maldives' oceanic manta hotspot

Every manta has its own pattern of spots on its belly, a bit like a fingerprint. Using photos of these patterns, researchers have recognised 778 different oceanic mantas at Fuvahmulah, from 837 sightings. The area holds 86% of all oceanic manta sightings in the Maldives.

The season is short and dramatic. Sightings peak between March and May, and they can jump from almost zero to 60 to 300 sightings in two to four weeks. In one season there were as many as 330 sightings over four weeks.

Many hands built this knowledge. The Manta Trust later celebrated the 1,000th oceanic manta identified in the Maldives, and most of the sightings behind that milestone come from Fuvahmulah, over 85% of the national total. The photos came from research seasons, from citizen scientists and from local dive centres. The 1,000th ray was named Anbu, which means mango in Dhivehi. I love that.

Why do oceanic mantas pass Fuvahmulah instead of staying?

Oceanic mantas are the larger of the two manta species, and very large ones can reach a disc width of up to 680 cm. They spend much of their time in the open ocean and visit cleaning stations far less than reef mantas do.

At Fuvahmulah, their behaviour surprised researchers. Of all recorded sightings, only 5 involved cleaning, 31 courtship and 11 feeding. About 95% of the time, the rays were simply cruising.

One researcher described finding new mantas on nearly every dive, and concluded that the rays seemed to be travelling through, not staying. Where they come from, and where they go next, is still a mystery.

A shark that comes up from the deep to be cleaned

Pelagic threshers are the sharks with the long, whip-like tail. At Fuvahmulah they visit cleaning stations at depths of 40 to 88 m, where small fish clean their skin. It is the only known pelagic thresher cleaning station in the Western Indian Ocean.

Remote underwater cameras recorded threshers on 90% of the days they were in the water, and two or three at once on 63% of days. Much of this station is deeper than most recreational diving, so many visitors will never see it. That is fine. Just knowing it happens, day after day, down there in the dark blue, is already a quiet kind of wonder.

Hammerheads, and why protection has to cross borders

Scalloped hammerheads gather here in schools of up to 30 to 60, mostly between February and May and between October and December. The factsheet calls it one of the last known scalloped hammerhead gatherings in the Maldives.

The Maldives protects all ray species, including both manta species. But oceanic mantas are now listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and in other places they are hunted for their gill plates. For an animal that seems to pass through and move on, protection in one country is not enough. That is why it matters that the parties to CITES, the international agreement on wildlife trade, moved manta and devil rays to Appendix I at their twentieth meeting. It means a full ban on international commercial trade.

How to meet a travelling giant

Because these mantas are usually cruising in open water, the temptation is to swim after them. Please do not. The Manta Trust code of conduct asks divers and snorkellers to stay at least 3 m away, to let the manta approach, and never to chase, touch or block its path when it swims overhead. A still, calm diver is usually the one a curious manta comes close to.

The same patience works for hammerheads and threshers. Good operators brief guests on depth limits, keep groups small, and treat a deep thresher sighting as a gift, not a target. On long boat days I wear a long-sleeve rash guard for sun and stings, so I use less sunscreen in the water.

Wildlife encounters are unpredictable. Diving with oceanic mantas should always follow local regulations and experienced professional guidance.

And one small thing can help science. If you take a photo of a manta's belly, its spot pattern can help researchers, so ask your guide how to share it. You can learn more about this ray in the oceanic manta in our Ocean Atlas.

We do not run a Fuvahmulah retreat. But if big open-ocean animals are what call you, our Ocean Match can help you find a place and a pace that fit you.

Questions people ask

Wildlife encounters are never guaranteed and never forced. Ocean Calling works only with vetted, ethical local operators, and every animal is free to approach, or not, entirely on its own terms.