Manta Hotspots

Global Tourism 'Hot Spots' for Manta Ray Sightings
Region	Country	Location	Prevalent Manta Species at Location	Peak Season	Estimated Manta Population	Comments
Central & Eastern Pacific	Fiji	Kadavu Island	Reef Manta - Manta alfredi	Year Round	Unknown, but likely to be fairly small
	Hawaii	Kona & the Big Islands	Reef Manta - Manta alfredi	Year Round	< 350	Main attraction is the night dive/snorkel with mantas on Kona
	Ecuador	Isla de la Plata	Oceanic Manta - Manta birostris	June-October	> 400 But expected to be much larger	Weather conditions make this site hard to access at certain times of the year
	Mexico	The Revillagigedo Islands (Socorro)	Oceanic Manta - Manta birostris	November-June	> 350 But expected to me much larger	This location consistently has sightings of the real giant individuals with DW's >5m. Black mantas are also common at this site
Caribbean	USA	Florida- Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary	Caribbean Manta - Manta cf. birostris	Year Round	Unknown
Caribbean	Mexico	Isla Mujeres & Isla Holbox, Yucatan	Caribbean Manta - Manta cf. birostris	June-Sept	Unknown	This Caribbean manta could well be a third species of manta ray
Indian Ocean	Republic of Maldives	Throughout the Archipelago	Reef Manta - Manta alfredi	Year Round	> 2,300 Individuals Identified (pop estimate 5,000). Oceanic mantas > 100	While Reef Mantas can be sighted all year round, the Maldives has two Monsoon (Seasons), which cause seasonal migrations of the manta rays within the archipelago
	Mozambique	Tofo Beach	Reef Manta - Manta alfredi	Year Round	Reef Mantas > 500 Individuals identified (pop estimate 900). Oceanic mantas > 100 (pop estimate 600)	Note: Oceanic mantas also frequent this site at certain times of the year
	Thailand	Koh Bon, Similan Islands	Oceanic Manta - Manta birostris	Year Round (best Jan-May)	Unknown
	Indonesia	Komodo National Park	Reef Manta - Manta alfredi	Year Round	Unknown	Black Colour Morph mantas at this site. Manta migrate from the north to south of the Komodo with the seasons
	Indonesia	Nusa Penida Island, Bali	Reef Manta - Manta alfredi	Year Round	Unknown	Black Colour Morph mantas at this site
	Australia	Coral Bay in Western Australia	Reef Manta - Manta alfredi	Year Round	> 500
Western Pacific	Indonesia	Raja Ampat	Reef Manta - Manta alfredi & Oceanic Manta - Manta birostris	Year Round (best Oct-Jun)	Unknown	Black Colour Morph mantas of both species at this site
	Australia	Great Barrier Reef, Eastern Australia	Reef Manta - Manta alfredi	Year Round	> 500
	Philippines	Manta Bowl, Donsol	Reef Manta - Manta alfredi	Year Round	Unknown
	Federated States of Micronesia	Yap, Palau, Kiribati & Guam	Reef Manta - Manta alfredi	Year Round	< 300	All these small islands have small populations of Reef Mantas year round.

Conservation through Research, Awareness and Education

Manta Hotspots