Giant New England Devil Fish Found
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 14th, 2007
Wire services are spreading the news worldwide of an unusual weekend find near Boston, a giant manta ray.
Salem’s sea monster is really a manta ray
Experts thought they were being fed a whopper of a fish tale – but when they got to Salem they were astounded to find locals had netted a giant monster from the deep.
Marine biologists from the New England Aquarium were stunned when they set eyes on the corpse of a giant Atlantic manta ray, weighing more than 600 pounds and boasting an 11-foot wing span.
Locals saw the sea beast’s lifeless body floating under Salem’s Essex Bridge [on Sunday, August 12, 2007]. Jet skiers dragged it to a nearby dock.
“It is very unusual to get this kind of animal in New England. I was surprised when I first saw it,” said Dan Laughlin of the New England Aquarium.
“People have been coming to see it in groups and we have been helping them interpret what their eyes are seeing,” said Laughlin.
He said it is impossible to determine the exact cause of the creature’s death without an autopsy.
“To me, this animal looks very thin and it is half the size of a fully grown adult so it certainly didn’t die of old age,” Laughlin said. Environmental police planned to tow it out to sea last night to “let nature take its course.”Mike Underwood
Boston Herald, August 13, 2007
Atlantic manta rays, called devil fish in the past, (Manta birostris) have been found to be as large as 29 feet across, although 22 feet is typical for adults. For one to be so far north is rare, as they are usually found in tropical, subtropical and some temperate waters between latitudes of 35°N and 35°S.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
That certainly is interesting, thanks for the article.
I remember years and years ago, my dad told me a story about a friend of his from work. They were out fishing in Moses Lake, a small lake/inlet off of Galveston Bay, just north of Galveston and Texas City, when a large manta ray appeared on the surface of the water trailing their boat. They said this thing was huge, followed them for a bit in the wake of the boat, then disappeared off into the depths of the lake and off into the bay. Amazing how big they get. Amazing creatures.
I should show them the… 700 pound monster half yellow half blue lobster I found in Harpswell. Oh wait I ate it, so don’t come around looking for it. By the way Harpswell is more north then Boston for the geographically challenged. Still its a impressive size for a manta ray, ANd teh blurb about how large they can become shocked, be so they must weight over a ton and a half.
About 43 yrs ago while Fishing in a small boat with my wife and a guide off Villa Pargarua in PR a school of Manta Rays swam by, one huge one leaped chasing schools of fish. i was amazed by the size.
I never knew they grew to 20+ feet!
Global warming?
they are filter feeders and they feed by doing backflips under the water. I dont know if they were actually chasing the fish..unless they were really small. These things have always fascianted me I would love to swim with them but I think I would be scared out of my mind since they more or less “fly through the water” flapping their fins like a bird. Imagine that coming at you. 30″ across. WoooooWeeee.
Maohk Kiaayo- As frightening as these creatures may seem with their large size, “wings” and method of locomotion, they are actually quite harmless and pose a minimal threat to humans. I think you can rest assured that if you ever decide to swim with them, and I recommend you do, you’d be quite safe.