Giant Manta Ray
Raja birostris Walbaum, 1792: 535. Types: No types known. Type locality: No locality stated in description.
Local synonymy: Manta ehrenbergi: Barnard, 1925: 87; Fowler, 1934b: 409, figs. 2–3; Barnard, 1959: 29, figs. 9–9a, pl. 4. Manta birostris: Smith, 1949a: 73, fig. 88; Wallace, 1967c: 13, fig. 6; Compagno, 1986: 134, fig. 29.1, pl. 5; Compagno et al., 1989: 116, pl.; Compagno, 1999: 118; Heemstra & Heemstra, 2004: 88; Marshall et al., 2009: 4, figs. 1–7; Ebert & Dando, 2014: 99, fig.; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 148; Weigmann, 2016: 981. Mobula birostris: White & Last, 2016c: 743, fig. 33.2; Stevens et al., 2018: 74, figs.
South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 7885, SAIAB 48525, SAIAB 75575, SAIAB 75576, SAIAB 200672, SAIAB 200673, SAIAB 200674.
South African distribution: Table Bay (WC) to the KZN border with Mozambique.
Remarks: Mobula birostris appears to occur in the more temperate waters of the WC compared to M. alfredi, which appears to be more restricted to the warmer waters of the KZN coast.
Conservation status: EN (2020).