Mantas Last Dance

March 4, 2013 8:20 AM

In an effort to raise awareness of the hunting of manta-rays to near extinction, Shawn Heinrichs made this beautiful underwater video of a model swimming with the mantas in their natural habitat. [more info at the via]
posted by quin (14 comments total)

So, who are over-hunting mantas? Are they for food? Where? Why aren't these basic questions answered in the video?
posted by Goofyy at 9:03 AM on March 4, 2013

After a little googling, I was able to find this, which details why the manta's are being over-hunted. TLDR; Chinese Medicine claims the gills can be used to cure just about anything.
posted by Runes at 9:07 AM on March 4, 2013 [3 favorites]

You know, right there in the FPP it says "more info at the via." And, guess what? There's more info at the via.
posted by yoink at 9:40 AM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Those fuckers killed Steve Irwin. They deserve extinction.
posted by Malor at 9:49 AM on March 4, 2013

"Those fuckers killed Steve Irwin. They deserve extinction."

With that logic the carrier pigeons would have hunted you down years ago.
(If they weren't all dead)
posted by HuronBob at 9:55 AM on March 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

Irwin was killed by a stingray, not a manta ray.
posted by THAT William Mize at 10:00 AM on March 4, 2013 [7 favorites]

For some extra, immediate context to this post, the Wikipedia page has some good information about why manta rays' status is listed as "vulnerable".
posted by KokuRyu at 10:02 AM on March 4, 2013

I wish the video had more manta and less woman in bikini floating, but wow is the manta ray mouth awesome.
posted by jeather at 10:32 AM on March 4, 2013 [3 favorites]

Let's start a pool for what "Chinese traditional medicine" will decide is the next exotic cure-all, once rhinos and mantas are extinct. I'm hoping it's something like mosquito wings, or billionaire brain-stem.
posted by jetsetsc at 10:57 AM on March 4, 2013 [3 favorites]

Let's start a pool for what "Chinese traditional medicine" will decide is the next exotic cure-all,

If you read the Wikipedia link above, you will discover it is more than just strawmen Chinese folks consuming gills. There are other, complex factors at play. We are all culpable, not just the yellow folks.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:30 AM on March 4, 2013

My manta ray's not all right? Damn.
posted by asperity at 12:19 PM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Malor: Those fuckers killed Steve Irwin. They deserve extinction.

Wow. Incredibly wrong, yet even ignoring that, massively incorrect. You're like a black hole of facts.
posted by IAmBroom at 2:25 PM on March 4, 2013

I also wanted more mantas/less model but thought the video was still totally worth it just to see OMG THAT MOUTH. Wow! I always thought rays were cool, but I had no idea their mouths looked like that. (I also had no idea "underwater model" was a career path.)

I was going to link to Dancing the Manta Ray, but asperity wins for making a witty Pixies reference (to Manta Ray, different song) instead of just complaining about the opportunity lost in the choice of music in the video like I was going to do.
posted by jessypie at 4:34 PM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

I totally didn't see the 'more info' in the 'via' statement. I gave the video credit for concept, but really wasn't impressed with the execution. And I mean that sincerely, as they tried to make some real beauty. It just fell flat. Although, partly because I needed the info, because I'm very fond of mantas, purely for their beauty.
posted by Goofyy at 12:22 AM on March 6, 2013