Mobula ray

Photo: Fernando Olea · CC BY-NC

Munk's devil ray is the most common mobula species in the Sea of Cortez and aggregates in massive schools at El Bajo each summer. Schools of tens of thousands of individuals have been documented circling the seamounts in dense spiraling formations for unknown reasons — theories include feeding, mating aggregation, and parasite removal. Unlike manta rays they do not visit cleaning stations; the seamount aggregation behavior is still not fully understood.