🌊 Happy World Manta Ray Day! As the HOME of the Manta Ray, we celebrate these incredible gentle giants every single day at Lady Elliot Island. Did you know @projectmanta has identified over 1,000 individual manta rays here, including Taurus (#134), the oldest known manta ray alive, first spotted here in 1982. Help us learn more and protect these magnificent creatures: 📸 Share your manta photos with #ProjectManta ✨ Follow @projectmanta 💙 Spread manta ray conservation awareness Ready to tick “s

In July, a giant manta ray, an endangered species, was legally captured off Panama City Beach, Florida, and shipped off for an aquarium in Abu Dhabi. The catch was permitted under a “marine special activity license” issued by Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), a rarely used loophole that allows contractors to take federally protected species for “educational” or “scientific” purposes. In reality, this permit was stretched to justify supplying a foreign theme park, an act