{"id":624467,"date":"2026-10-08T15:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T15:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/624467\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T15:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T15:04:09","slug":"ghostly-ocean-giant-spotted-at-intersection-of-pacific-and-indian-oceans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/624467\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cGhostly” ocean giant spotted\u00a0at intersection of Pacific and Indian oceans"},"content":{"rendered":"

The iconic markings of\u00a0manta rays\u00a0are so distinctive that it\u2019s possible to tell individuals apart from the fingerprint-like spots on their belly. But some of these rays are so unique that they stand out right away.<\/p>\n

One such animal came to the attention of marine biologist Dr.\u00a0Mark Erdmann<\/a>, executive director of ReShark, during a trip to Raja Ampat, Indonesia \u2013 an archipelago at the meeting point of the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

Erdmann was hosting a\u00a0Silolona Sojourns\u00a0conservation cruise in the Dampier Strait in March 2026 when the yacht found a group of giant oceanic manta rays<\/a> feeding on krill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One ray looked startlingly different to the rest. \u201cMost of the oceanic mantas we encounter in Raja Ampat have more of a standard black and white dorsal pattern (and a number of them are ‘all black’),\u201d Erdmann explains, \u201cbut this particular manta had an unusual amount of white that really made it stand out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The white manta seemed to glow in the water as it looped-the-loop and somersaulted through the sea to feed on the tiny organisms as efficiently as possible. Its eerie colouration made it look almost like a spirit in the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The unusual ray \u201creally stood out against the slate grey water with its striking dorsal colour pattern of ghostly white on black,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Footage shows the “ghostly white on black” oceanic manta ray in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Credit: Mark Erdmann, Silolona Sojourns<\/p>\n

More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n

Top image credit: Mark Erdmann, Silolona Sojourns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The iconic markings of\u00a0manta rays\u00a0are so distinctive that it\u2019s possible to tell individuals apart from the fingerprint-like spots…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-624467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}