Manta swimming over wreck
A huge manta swimming over wreck, over the wreckage of the Monitor. An abundance of marine life has made the Monitor home.
Furthermore the Atlantic manta is a well-known species, brown or black in color and very powerful but inoffensive.Mantas may visit cleaning stations for the removal of parasites. Like whales, they breach for unknown reasons.
This species listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Anthropogenic threats include pollution, entanglement in fishing nets, and direct harvesting for their gill rakers for use in Chinese medicine. Their slow reproductive rate exacerbates these threats.
They are protected in international waters by the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals, but are more vulnerable closer to shore. Areas where mantas congregate are popular with tourists. Only a few public aquariums are large enough to house them.
