A LITTLE WILDLIFE PERSPECTIVE
How big is a giant manta ray?
Compare your height to a giant manta ray.
Giant manta rays can reach nearly 8 m (26 ft) across their wings. The comparison uses a top view of a ray with a 5 m wingspan.
A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE
Giant manta ray
next to the average.
Average U.S. adults, side by side.
Top view · example 5 m wingspan
- Average man (U.S.)5 ft 8.9 in
- Giant manta ray10 ft 11 in
- Average woman (U.S.)5 ft 3.5 in
How do you measure up?
Enter your height to stand beside a giant manta ray.
Side by side
- Giant manta ray10 ft 11 in
- Your placeAdd your height
The animal is an example adult in the pose shown. Its full outline is scaled to 332.7 cm vertically. Top view · example 5 m wingspan. Shoulder height and body length are explained below.
Where do you stand?
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GET TO KNOW THE ANIMAL
Small facts. Big discoveries.
Giant manta ray · Mobula birostris
A manta ray’s broad pectoral fins act like wings underwater. Two lobes beside its mouth help funnel water and tiny food into its mouth.
Giant manta rays travel between productive ocean areas where zooplankton gather. They also visit cleaning sites, where smaller fish remove parasites from their skin.
- Giant manta rays are the largest living rays.
- Patterns on their bellies help researchers identify individuals.
How big do adults get?
- Male
- Species wingspan: up to nearly 8 m
- Female
- Species wingspan: up to nearly 8 m
These are species-wide upper dimensions, not sex-specific averages. This is a view from above: the width is wingspan, and the vertical outline runs from the head lobes to the tail tip, not body thickness.
Height, length, or weight?
Standing height runs from the ground to the top of the animal. Shoulder height stops at the top of the shoulders. Length runs along the body; it is not how tall an animal stands. Weight tells us how heavy it is.
Explore the science: NOAA Fisheries ↗