It all began with a simple question: Why don’t manta rays clear their throats? The car-size, kite-shaped fishes filter their plankton food from seawater, but they don’t pause, close their mouths and ...

Manta rays are elegantly shaped. They swim by flapping their fins like enormous wings, and their gills filter for plankton with the utmost precision. These creatures have now inspired human ...

A giant manta ray can span more than 7 meters from wingtip to wingtip and weigh over 1,300 kilograms. By size alone, it should be a threat. It isn’t. Instead of teeth, claws, or venom, the manta ray ...

The sophisticated filtration system of giant manta rays might be the key to ridding the ocean of trash in the future. In a new study, scientists looked at the marine animal's liquid-solid filtration ...

Manta rays, the majestic creatures that glide through the sea with wing-like fins, have a unique way of filtering their meals of tiny plankton. Mantas are able to strain large amounts of food ...

Researchers often seek inspiration from natural systems to address technical problems. Manta rays are filter feeders, sifting plankton from seawater as they swim. Inspired by this natural filtering ...

Studying the filter-feeding mechanism of mobula rays, engineers developed a new design for industrial cross-flow water filters. Research shows the filter-feeders strike a natural balance between ...

Manta rays strain their tiny food from mouthfuls of seawater in a novel way that could hold the key to better filtration in a variety of commercial applications, new research by Oregon State ...

Filter feeders are everywhere in the animal world, from tiny crustaceans and certain types of coral and krill, to various molluscs, barnacles, and even massive basking sharks and baleen whales. Now, ...