Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a flying mobula ray soaring high off the Mexican shore

這是鳥嗎? 這是飛機嗎?不, 這是飛行的蝠鱝跳躍在墨西哥海岸的附近

Lurking off Mexico's eastern shore in the Sea of Cortez, these flap-jack-like creatures burst out of the water with graceful precision.

Soaring as high as two metres above the plankton-rich green water, mobula rays are a sight to behold.

Here in the Sea of Cortez four species of mobulas (tarapacana, thurstoni, munkiana, and japanica) occupy the waters along with the giant manta ray.

The mobula ray bursts through the water

潛伏在離在加福尼亞灣，墨西哥東部岸的附近，這些像煎餅的生物，以優美精確的角度衝出水面。在Gulf of California 這裡(當地墨西哥人稱Sea of Cortez)，蝠鱝屬(mobulas)的褐背蝠鱝(tarapacana)、印度蝠鱝(thurstoni)、芒基蝠鱝 (munkiana)、和日本蝠鱝(japanica)四個種類與巨大的魔鬼魟(Manta Ray)一起聚集。

蝠鱝在富含浮游生物的綠色水面上奮力一躍，可以有兩米那麼高，是這裡所有景色的焦點。

Both mantas and mobulas are members of the Family Mobulidae, a group about which, very little is known.

Mobulas can grow up to ten feet though they are considerably smaller than their Manta Ray cousin.

Mantas, the most well known of, which is the Pacific Manta Ray, can exceed disc-like shapes of up to twenty-three feet.   

The rays flocks beneath the ocean's surface

蝠鱝科下的兩個屬，前口蝠鱝屬和蝠鱝屬是最不為人所分辨清楚的種類。 

蝠鱝可能成長到十英尺，雖然如此，它們還是比它們可觀地前口蝠鱝屬表兄略遜一籌。

前口蝠鱝屬中最知名的，就是個性溫馴的魔鬼魟，可能超出二十三英尺。

For some time now, the comings and goings of the mobula have remained something of a mystery.

Scientists do not know why large schools spend a few days in one area, or why the disc like creatures breach the water in spectacular fashion.

Is it to dislodge the parasite-cleaning remoras that attach to their backside? Is it some way of keeping fit, of practising the underwater gathering of food? Could it be a form of play?

What if jumping was a form of co-operative hunting, a way of tricking vibration-wary mysids into migrating downwards and into the open mouths of other mobulas below?

Airborne ... a mobula ray soars above the water

雖然經過一段時間的努力，直到現在，我們對蝠鱝的某些事情依然是個謎。

科學家不知道為什麼，它們會大量聚集在同一個區域中(科學家戲稱這區域為large schools或是ray school) 或為什麼像打水飄一樣作出飛躍的奇觀。

那是一種甩掉它後側寄生物的清潔行為嗎？還是維持某種適合它的，在水下驅趕、誘捕食物的行為？或者這只是單純的一種遊戲？

跳躍如果是合作狩獵的一種形式，靠著拍打的振動來欺騙機警的食物竄進它和其它蝠鱝張大的嘴中呢?

Keller Laros, a dive master based out of Hawaii has logged long hours underwater observing Pacific Manta Rays, the largest of munkiana's mobulid cousins.

The smaller manta ray's out-of-water acrobatics is not unlike its feeding behaviour below the surface.

Underwater, mantas have been observed doing loop after loop in the same place, concentrating their prey into a tight area.

As they circle, they direct the green soup into their mouths with the cephalic lobes found on each side of their head.

Karey Kumli, research associate at the Pacific Manta Research Group located at Santa Rosa Junior College, thinks the breaching behaviour isn't done deliberately.

Mobula rays can grow up to 10 feet long

潛水者Keller Laros，根據他在夏威夷外海，長時間的水底觀察，紀錄下溫馴魔鬼魟, 還有它的進親蝠鱝的行為。

小型魟魚的躍水的特技，實際上並不是一種覓食的形式。 在水下, 蝠鱝被觀察到在原處一圈一圈的廻游, 以集中它們的食物(也就是浮游生物)進入一個窄小的區域中。

當它們盤旋時，也在它們的一邊發現，頭部的兩片「頭鰭」引導這些綠色的小生物順勢進入他們的嘴。  但是位於Santa Rosa 學院的太平洋魟魚學術研究小組的研究員Karey Kumli認為潛水者們的行為不夠謹慎，而且是在介入自然環境下所作的觀察。

She said: "We wonder why they go through that plane between water and air, and I ask why would they avoid it. They'd have to be pretty careful to avoid being airborne.

"Remember, when they are in the air, there's so little resistance compared to that offered by water that a slight bend of a fin would send them tumbling."

In short, mobulas spin out in the absence of the resistance provided by water.

However, like most beautiful species of the sea they face the many dangers posed by man.

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The rays can reach heights of up to two metres

她說: 「我們納悶的是：為什麼它們可以滑翔在水和空氣之間，並且我要問：它們會如何避免這種行為。因為它們必須相當小心的避免在空中移動。」

「記住，它們是在空氣中，因此跟水比起來沒有一點操控能力，身軀的一個輕微的彎曲都會讓它們翻滾。」

簡言之，蝠鱝在空中移動時缺少了像水中一樣的操控能力。

然而，如同大多數漂亮的海洋生物一般，他們也面對許多來自人類的危險。

SeaWatch, an environmental advocacy organisation, focus their efforts on the Sea of Cortez.

According to SeaWatch, sports fishermen in Parque Nacional Bahia de Loreto, say that their business is off 40 per cent to 50 per cent from last year, and the consensus among commercial fisherman is that there are no fish left to catch.

Longlines, trawls, spear-guns, nylon nets, and large-scale commercial operations have replaced the individual fishermen using a hand line. And it is by no means unique to the Sea of Cortez.

Are they playing? Or practising gathering food?

SeaWatch, 一個環境保護組織，正集中他們的努力於Sea of Cortez以遏止人類漁業對非經濟型海洋生物的傷害。 (版主建議您去觀看一下他們的首頁，就知道seawatch在幹些什麼)

相對於SeaWatch，墨西哥漁夫Parque Nacional Bahia de Loreto說, 他們的收穫比起去年少了40% 到50%，並且在職業漁船作業過後，幾乎沒有魚剩下給他們的。

延繩釣、拖網、標槍、尼龍網, 和大規模商業操作蓋過了傳統漁夫使用釣線。並且它對Sea of Cortez這個地區的影響絕對不會是局部的。

Worldwide, by-catch accounts for 20 million tons a year of unwanted fish. About one-fourth of the world's catch is thrown back.

The ratio is even higher among the take from shrimp trawlers.

Today, due in part to the work of Sea Watch, the Mexican government now imposes a $10,000 fine for those convicted of intentionally killing a Pacific Manta Ray.

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在全世界，魚撈業一年約捕獲20 百萬噸的非經濟魚種。占世界的總魚獲量約四分之一，這些被捕獲的魚被當成肥料(如果漁船有空間的話)或是被投擲回海中---當然是死亡的。

棄漁比例最高的，是在以捕蝦為主的拖網漁船上。今天，那些惡意地殺害意外捕獲蝠鱝的漁船。墨西哥政府已經立法，如果犯行確定屬實，將處$10,000 美元罰款 。

英文來源: DailyMail

中文來源: 滯留的海底三千里

很漂亮的魚耶, 應該是魟魚的一種吧~ ^^ 不過還真的蠻像蝙蝠的, 難怪被稱為海中蝙蝠俠~~ ^^ 不過它後面的尾巴應該也蠻危險ㄉ,  前年Discovery的澳洲「鱷魚先生」Steve Irwin, 就是被魟魚尾刺刺穿胸部當場喪命ㄉ... @@|| 看來~ 還是遠遠的觀賞它好了~ ^^