In case you haven't had enough of mantas..more from last night. I also keep forgetting to mention something really cool. The underbellies of mantas, like you can see in some of the pictures, have a lovely spot pattern. Each one is unique to that manta, so that is how they keep track of which ones are where on what night. It actually really helps. I thought I saw Big Bertha last night, but it happened to be another giant female. 11 ft, I think. Anyway, learned today Big Bertha's marks from an image on the computer, so now I can't mistake which one is her. She has a W centered on her belly with two dots in between. Almost looks like a face. It's amazing that all the people I work with can recognize them within seconds, but then again, I could do that with the orangutans when I worked with them. I can look at a picture and instantly know who it is whereas an outsider would look at a hundred pictures and think they all look the same. The people I am working for have named close to half of the mantas known in this area, maybe more. Oh- and one last thing. After I learned Big Bertha's markings, I asked how much she approximately weighs since she is so goddamn big. It is estimated 100 lbs per foot. No wonder why my boss had neck problems for 6 months when one manta accidentally ran into him. They are heavy as hell.
So, some more images from last night.
So here's one of my images from last night that acts as the perfect example for identifying which manta is which. Unfortunately, after only 3 nights, I know one manta, so the only way I can identify this one is to say it's not Big Bertha, which I already know from the size.
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