Although they’re seen more often at night around the manta ray viewing sites, where they come to feed. Along the Kona Coast, the reef is right along the shoreline which makes sightings a frequent event, both at night and during the daytime. Difference #2: Their Habitat and DistributionĪs its name already gives away, the common habitat for the manta ray is the reef. However, as they roam the deeper “pelagic” zones of the ocean, we don’t see them as often during our moonlight swim adventures. However, a large manta ray like Big Bertha is still a lot smaller than your average pelagic manta ray the latter’s wingspan can measure up to 22 feet (seven meters). She measures about fourteen feet (five meters) wingspan which is wider than a basketball loop is high! Big Bertha is one of the biggest grown-up females we see regularly here along the coast of Kona. No surprise there: reef mantas are a little “smaller” than oceanic mantas. Pelagic manta Difference #1: The Giant Manta is Bigger than the Reef Manta Pelagic manta = giant manta ray = oceanic manta ray they usually roam the “pelagic” zones of the ocean. Reef manta = the type of manta ray who stays closer to the reef. And even though both types are huge, only one of them is called “giant manta ray” 🙂

There is much confusion about the types of manta rays out there, even though there are only two. Coloration – each type has its own distinctive color pattern.Their habitat and distribution – we’re still learning about their migration patterns, but there are very clear differences between both types of manta rays.Even though reef mantas are huge already! Their size – the giant manta ray is bigger than the reef manta.These two manta rays are very different, namely when it comes to A question we often get about manta rays is what is the difference between the mysterious giant manta ray – and the reef manta ray we encounter daily when we take guests to swim with mantas.

Giant oceanic manta ray