Reef Manta Ray
Deratoptera alfredi Krefft, 1868: 3–9, fig. Holotype: AMS I.1731 (stuffed). Type locality: Watson Bay, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Local synonymy: Manta alfredi: Marshall et al., 2009: 13, figs. 9–14; Ebert & Dando, 2014: 97, fig.; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 148; Weigmann, 2016: 981. Mobula alfredi: White & Last, 2016c: 742, fig. 33.1; Stevens et al., 2018: 70, figs.
South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 7885.
South African distribution: Durban (KZN) and north to the Mozambique border.
Remarks: Formerly in the genus Manta, White et al. (2018), using morphological and molecular data, concluded that there was no significant difference between the genera Manta and Mobula. Since Mobula is the older name and takes precendence, the two recognized species formerly in the genus Manta were reassigned to the genus Mobula (White et al., 2018). Marshall et al. (2009) resurrected Mobula (= Manta) alfredi as distinct from Mobula birostris. Prior to this species being resurrected, the name M. birostris was widely used throughout the WIO, with historical records likely including both species.
Conservation status: VU (2019).