Evidence of Zavora Bay as a critical site for reef manta rays, Mobula alfredi, in southern Mozambique.

ABSTRACT: The largest known reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) population in Africa has been monitored for more than 20 years at several locations on the coast of the Inhambane Province in southern Mozambique. Nonetheless, before this study, little had been reported on the population dynamics of M. alfredi from Závora, a remote bay in the region. Photographic mark-recapture was used to investigate the size and structure of M. alfredi that aggregate at "Red Sands," a reef cleaning station in Závora Bay. An 11 year photographic data set was used to identify 583 M. alfredi individuals between 2010 and 2021. More than half of M. alfredi individuals were resighted at least once, with most encounters (up to 18 for one individual) occurring during the peak sighting period in July-November each year. An even s

SUBMITTER: Carpenter M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9544570 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature