The reef manta ray Manta alfredi aggregates at several sites along the east coast of Australia. Photographic identification and mark-recapture methods were used to report on the site affinity, size and structure of this population of M. alfredi. A total of 716 individuals were identified in 1982-2012, including 636 at Lady Elliot Island (LEI), southern Great Barrier Reef. Over 60 % of individuals identified were resighted at least once during the study period. Multiple resightings within and among years imply a high degree of site affinity by individuals to aggregation sites. One individual was sighted 11 times at LEI over a 30-yr period. The sex ratio of this population was significantly biased towards females (1.2:1 female-to-male ratio), and females were more commonly resighted than males. Robust design population models were used to estimate the population size of the winter aggregation at LEI over a 4-yr period. The models estimated up to 456 (95 % CI 399-535) M. alfredi individuals in the population within one winter season and a high annual apparent survival. This study demonstrated that waters around LEI form a key aggregation site for a large portion of the M. alfredi population in east Australian waters. © 2014 The Author(s).
CITATION STYLE
Couturier, L. I. E., Dudgeon, C. L., Pollock, K. H., Jaine, F. R. A., Bennett, M. B., Townsend, K. A., … Richardson, A. J. (2014). Population dynamics of the reef manta ray Manta alfredi in eastern Australia. Coral Reefs, 33(2), 329–342. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-014-1126-5
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