[BNS_members] Monthly Meeting - Manta: Secret Life of Devil Rays

[Caroline Beddoe]

Good evening,

The monthly meeting of the Blomidon Naturalists Society will be held on 
Monday February 20th at 7:30 pm in-person in Wolfville at the Wolfville 
Curling Club and online on Zoom.

Date: Monday February 20th (3rd Monday of the month)

Time: 7:30 pm meeting commences, with introductions, nature notes, 
discussion, and updates followed by a presentation. 7:00 pm social with 
tea prior to the meeting.

Location: In-person upstairs at the Wolfville Curling Club (22 Elm Ave) 
or online on Zoom (registration here: 
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvfuCppjsuGNETR1oAtZJUCuAo0N4hXnxz) 
[1]

Presenter:

  Dr. Guy Stevens is the Chief Executive and Founder of the Manta Trust, 
[2] a UK and US registered charity dedicated to the conservation of 
manta and devil rays (mobulids), with collaborative projects in over 25 
countries. He has spent the last 20 years studying mobulids all over the 
world and is one of the foremost experts on these species. We are also 
super grateful to have Guy on the BNS Board providing his insight, 
experience, and energy to our work!

Presentation: Manta - Secret Life of Devil Rays!

_What are Manta Rays?_

Manta and devil rays are some of the most beautiful, fascinating, and 
enigmatic creatures in our oceans. Close relatives of all sharks and 
rays, these cartilaginous, filter-feeding fish range throughout the 
tropical and sub-tropical oceans of the world. Born into a life of 
perpetual motion, they can never stop moving, as they must keep water 
flowing over their gills to respire. Their daily and seasonal movements 
are tuned to the ebb and flow of the ocean currents that breathe life 
into their world, bearing the planktonic food upon which they depend.

_The Gentle Giants of the Sea_

Manta rays are giants of their kind, with the largest individuals 
reaching seven metres in width and weighing up to two tonnes. Despite 
their colossal presence, manta rays are gentle creatures. They have the 
largest brain of all fishes, and their intelligence and curiosity make 
encounters with manta rays a truly magical experience. It is little 
wonder that for many years they have been well known and loved by the 
SCUBA diving community. More recently, they have also found mainstream 
popularity with a wider, global audience, featuring in wildlife 
documentaries such as the BBC's Blue Planet II. Their obvious intellect 
and complex social interactions set manta rays apart from other fishes, 
but as they have only been scientifically studied in detail for around a 
decade, much of their life history remains a mystery.

Guy's presentation will cover the taxonomy, biology, and behavioural 
ecology of this family of rays, as well as discussing the major threats 
to these species globally, and the conservation work and Guy and his 
colleagues are doing at the Manta Trust.

We are excited to have a unique talk and to know that learning about 
species and conservation work has broad-ranging insights, implications 
and lessons for global biodiversity conservation and policy, including 
perhaps even here in Nova Scotia, as we live within an interconnected 
world of ecological and climate crises and the need to research and 
protect our natural world.

Reef Manta Ray, Mobula alfredi, Mass Feeding Event, Hanifaru Bay, Baa 
Atoll, Maldives (c) Guy Stevens, Manta Trust 2009.
-- 
Caroline Beddoe
  She/her
  613-619-1098
  Program Coordinator
  Blomidon Naturalists Society
  Wolfville, Nova Scotia

_ Blomidon Naturalists Society activities take place in Mi'kma'ki, the 
traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq People. We 
acknowledge that we have a responsibility to honour and learn about 
their histories and current cultures and to actively work in support of 
reconciliation. We are committed to fostering respectful and sustainable 
relationships with the Indigenous Peoples of this land, with all other 
organisms, with the land and with the water._

Links:
------
[1] 
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvfuCppjsuGNETR1oAtZJUCuAo0N4hXnxz
[2] https://www.mantatrust.org/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://blomidonnaturalists.ca/pipermail/members_blomidonnaturalists.ca/attachments/20230213/77df0c80/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: MANTA_Secret Life of Devil Rays_Presentation_Guy Stevens.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 176279 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://blomidonnaturalists.ca/pipermail/members_blomidonnaturalists.ca/attachments/20230213/77df0c80/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Reef Manta Ray, Mobula alfredi, Mass Feeding Event, Hanifaru Bay, Baa Atoll, Maldives ?? Guy Stevens, Manta Trust 2009.??- COMPRESSED.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1576579 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://blomidonnaturalists.ca/pipermail/members_blomidonnaturalists.ca/attachments/20230213/77df0c80/attachment-0001.png>