Manta Ray’s at Lady Musgrave Island with 1770reef

The gracefulness of the Manta Ray is truly a thing of beauty. They are a giant of the ocean and can reach a disc size of up to 7metres, averaging around 4.5 metres.

Coming in at Number #2 on the Great 8 of our Great Barrier Reef’s living icons is the Manta Ray and you may have to chance to get up close and personal while snorkelling the pristine waters of Lady Musgrave Lagoon.

Did you know?

The Manta Ray has the largest brain to body size ration of any living fish which makes them quite inquisitive around snorkellers and divers, coming up to “inspect” what you are up to.

How fast can they go?

The flapping in Mantas can generate incredible amount of propulsion. A 4.5 metre Manta can travel at around 14 kilometres per hour with bursts of up to 35 kilometres per hour.

You can name one as well.

If you get a chance to swim with the Manta take a photo of its underbelly. No two Mantas have the same markings. If it is identified as a “new” sighting, you can name it yourself!

The Love Train

During breeding times up to 30 males may follow only one (1) female as she leads them in a merry dance resembling something like the old Conga Line dance. She will then choose one of the males as a partner. Once she falls pregnant, the male departs and has no part in any parenting.

What a big mouth you have?

The Manta has a very large, forward facing mouth. This allows them to migrate across the open seas and filter feed large quantities of plankton which they swallow with their open mouths as they swim along.

Let 1770reef help you tick the famous MANTA RAY # 2 on the Great Barrier Reef Great 8 off your bucket list!!!

+617 4972 7222 tours@1770reef.com.au www.1770reef.com.au

Giant Clams at Lady Musgrave Island Lagoon

It’s The Great 8!

The Giant Clam is found at our very own Lady Musgrave Island Lagoon part of the Southern Great Barrier Reef, with the Giant Clam earing its spot at number 5, alongside the likes of Whales, Manta Rays, Clown Fish, Sharks, Potato Cod, Maori Wrasse and Turtles.

Lady Musgrave Island is one of the only locations along the Great Barrier Reef where all 8 can be found, including of course the amazing Giant Clam.

Did you know?

It’s said that, like a human fingerprint, no two Giant Clams have the same colouration or mantle pattern. These wild technicolour effects actually come from algae living within the clam’s tissue.

These extraordinary mollusks, which can grow to 1.5 meters in length and weigh up to 200 kilograms, feature a pretty ordinary exterior but a stunning mantle – the fleshy part protruding from the shell.

One of these Clams is not like the other….

Adult giant clams cannot close their shells completely. This makes them the only species of clams unable to do so.

Male or Female?

By nature, Giant Clams are hermaphrodites. They possess the reproductive organs of both the sexes.

Despite this, they cannot reproduce on their own. On the contrary, they release sperms and eggs into the water.

A single giant clam can release over 500 million eggs at one time.

What’s for dinner?

The algae that grow within the Giant Clam’s mantle tissue are their main source of food. The giant clams absorb sugars and proteins, which these algae produce as they photosynthesize. The nutrition that they get from these algae enables them to acquire such enormous sizes.

Owing to their immense size and their sessility, giant clams are also preyed upon by a number of predators which are, more often than not, much smaller than them.

Let 1770reef help you tick the famous GIANT CLAM # 5 on the Great Barrier Reef Great 8 off your bucket list!!! Bookings 0749727222https://www.1770reef.com.au/book-now/