Nine-foot manta ray spotted swimming off Shell Key

A group of researchers from Tampa Bay Watch was thrilled when they spotted a manta ray swimming off Shell Key last week.

Shell Key is just north of Fort De Soto Park off the bottom tip of St. Petersburg.

The ray, the scientists said, appeared to be between 8 and 9 feet wide.

“It is an extremely rare sight in our area,” said Rachel Arndt, Tampa Bay Watch communications manager. “They were in the process of doing boat safety drills on our catamaran that we use on school field trips for our environmental education program. At first the staff thought they saw a dolphin, but upon getting closer realized it was a manta ray.”

Manta rays are the world’s largest ray and can get up to 22 feet wide on average, the group said.

The animals are often seen swimming slowly on the surface feeding on plankton and are vulnerable to overfishing due to slow growth, slow reproduction rates and their long lifespan, the group wrote in the Facebook post.

They have been recently listed as a federally protected species.

This story was originally published March 6, 2018 at 9:30 PM with the headline "Nine-foot manta ray spotted swimming off Shell Key."