The Manta Rays of Kona Hawaii

Since 1991, the Kona Manta Rays have been photographed and identified using their unique spot pattern on their ventral (abdominal) side. The first Kona Manta Ray ever identified was Lefty, and there are now more than 290 unique rays catalogued.
Download the Manta Ray Tracker App from the iOS App Store and use it to submit your sighting information and photos to us. If you can’t identify the individual, we will help you do so (if it’s an acceptable photo). If you submit a photo of an unknown manta, you can name it and we will add it to the ID catalog. We also want to accumulate as many photos of each individual as we can in order to document their life history, and with the idea that eventually we may be able to automatically recognize an individual from a user submitted photo.
You can create a location for your sighting anywhere along the Kona Coast. You can use the built-in GPS on your iOS device, you can use the built-in map to mark the location, or you can manually type in the GPS coordinates. You don’t need an internet connection to create a sighting. You can create as many sightings as you want entering the specific information for each one, continue to fill out the information as needed, and then submit reports to us once you are back in internet range.
You can also use the App to learn more about this amazing animals and lookup other users sighting information.