Scientific name:
Modulidae

Natural spread:
African Atlantic-coast, Mediterranean

It works rather immensely, if the dark Mantas with its wide, flat swinging "fly" elegantly through the water. The span of a flipper-top to the other can amount to up to 7 m with the Riesenmanta. Such giant-fish weigh up to 2 tons. Before the eyes, the flippers have 2 movable fort-sentences, the "head-fins" or "devil-horns", that are directed forward when swimming, and this spreads, endständige mouth border. The Spritzlöcher are minutely small and are not used for breathing, since Mantas don't live on the ground like many other smelled but move in the free water and takes the oxygen the tide inpouring constantly through the mouth.

Food It is strange that Mantas live from the smallest organisms as biggest smelled, like the two giants among the sharks (whale-shark, giant-shark) sifts through it the water as quite harmless Planktonfiltrierer. The minutely small animal and vegetable organisms stick in the gill-filter-appliance before the water streams out again through the gill-openings.

Reproduction The boys were born living. its number still is unknown with several types. Some types, like approximately the Riesenmanta, get only 1 young, that already is ("wing-span" over 1 m) very big in the birth and guards from the dam and is defended.

Spread, types Teufelsrochen prefer warmer and tropical seas, gets occasionally far northward, however. So, it is before the African Atlantic-coast and in the Mediterranean gave a home, until appeared before Great Britain's coasts 5 m wide Meeresteufel (Mobula mobular) sometimes. The Riesenmanta (Manta birostris) lives in tropical and subtropical seas. As smallest type, the Australian Zwergteufelsrochen (Mobula diabolis) gains only one span of 60 cm.