Manta Mirror

This photo was taken in the Gulf of Exmouth, an area that is extremely important and where a lot of marine species start their life before heading around to the Ningaloo Reef. It is also a nursery for Humpback Whales to rest while the calves grow strong enough for their big trip back down to Antarctica. Manta Rays can be seen feeding there all year around but in bigger numbers at the end of winter. On this day there were quite a few surface feeding. Surface feeding for Manta Rays involves the animals swimming along the surface of the water with their mouths open they filter feed, swallowing large amounts of zoo plankton and expelling the water through their gills which you can see in this photo. On this day the weather was still and when the conditions are like this you can see the surface of the water has this mirroring effect. This Photo is the reason that I came second in the "Females Fifty Fathoms award" with Oceanographic Magazine and was on display in Londons Blancpain store.