Animals

How did this rare pink manta get its color?

Spotted recently off the Great Barrier Reef, the little-seen fish's rosy hue is not due to infection or diet, scientists say.

By Bethany Augliere

PUBLISHED February 11, 2020

Photograph by Kristian Laine

Photographer Kristian Laine was freediving recently off the southernmost island of Australia’s Great Barrier Reefwhen a bright pink manta ray glided by. He thought for sure that his camera was malfunctioning.

“I had no idea there were pink mantas in the world, so I was confused and thought my strobes were broken or doing something weird,” says Laine, whose photographs posted on Instagram this week have gone viral. Laine later realized he’d spotted an 11-foot male reef manta ray named after Inspector Clouseau, the bumbling detective of the Pink Panther movies. The fish, who cruises the waters around Lady Elliot Island, is the only known pink manta ray in the world.

First spotted in 2015, Inspector Clouseau has been seen fewer than 10 times since. “I feel humbled and extremely lucky,” says Laine, who photographed him amid a group of seven other males, all of them vying for a female. (Read how manta rays form close friendships, shattering misconceptions.)

Scientists with the Australian research group Project Manta, who study the rosy ray, have confirmed its color to be real. At...

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How did this rare pink manta get its color?

Spotted recently off the Great Barrier Reef, the little-seen fish's rosy hue is not due to infection or diet, scientists say.

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