For the past 14 years, scientists have been watching manta rays pick each other up at a known hotspot in the Maldives, recording 229 courtship events. They recently compiled their observations into a report that is, according to Guy Stevens, founder of Manta Trust and lead author, “the most detailed window into the sex lives of mantas.”
While the two species of manta rays documented in the study, giant oceanic manta rays and reef manta rays, mate in different places and usually at different times of the year, their mating rituals are quite similar.
Joshua Rapp Learn 