Manta Ray (Kaiyodo - Aquatales Polyresin)

[brontodocus]

Happy New Year, everyone! I'll (sort of) begin it with the Kaiyodo Aquatales Polyresin Series 2 No. 002 Manta Ray. Although the box says Manta birostris it has more similarities with the more coastal Reef Manta Ray, Manta alfredi (Krefft, 1868), a species that was not considered a valid, separate species until 2009. The characters that led me to identify this figure as a Reef Manta instead of a Giant Manta are: Whitish shoulder markings more rounded than angulate, dark spots on ventral side located near posterior end and between gill slits, pectorals without any significant whitish margin visible from above, lower margin of mouth whitish instead of black. The latter character is subject to individual variation, though, as both Manta birostris and M. alfredi can be either very pale or dark. But most M. birostris would have a lower margin of the mouth that is entirely black. Considering these key characters for telling both recognised Manta species apart I wonder how many Manta Ray figures might actually be more similar to M. alfredi, too (although most of them might be too generic to qualify for a proper species-level identification since the differences are still very subtle). The Aquatales Polyresin figure shows some amazing details, e.g. sculpted teeth and gill arches inside the mouth. The entire mouth cavity is also very deep and reaches behind the fifth gill arch. Total length of the figure is 114 mm (of which 59 mm are disk length) and disk width is 115 mm (measured as if the pectorals were stretched out). So the scale may be around 1:26 to 1:47 (Reef Mantas are somewhat smaller than Giant Oceanic Mantas). The human figure (scuba diver from Safari Ltd Coral Reef Toob) is approx. 1:32 - 1:35 scale. Like the related Giant Manta, the Reef Manta Ray is in decline due to overfishing in unprotected parts of its range and IUCN considers the species "Vulnerable".





















Edit 2017-02-04: Fixed broken image urls.

[Jetoar]

Wonderful replica, I think the same that you, it is a Manta alfredi  .

[brontodocus]

Manta alfredi is visible again!

[Isidro]

Very detailed and in good size for me... I want this manta!

[Advicot]

It does indeed look very detailed but I have enough manta rays (3)

[Avian]

Such a beautiful figure! Kaiyodo didn't let anybody down with this manta ray.