Monday Morning Zen Photo by Peter Critchell.


This photo is in honor of the baby manta ray who was born, then died, at the Okinawa Churaumi acquarium in Japan. Even though it didn't survive, the little gal—well, actually, she was born with a six-foot wingspan—has been a boon to knowledge about manta rays, which, as you can see, are dramatic and beautiful (and entirely harmless, unless you're plankton) creatures. Like, for example how female manta rays give birth (courtesy of the Washington Post):

You gently flap your glorious, 13-foot-wide wings to swim to the bottom. You rub your swollen belly on the ground for a while. Then you gain a little altitude and, with a forceful push, you eject your precious bundle as a rolled-up, burrito-like tube, which promptly unfurls to begin its new life as one of the strangest and least-understood marine animals on the planet.

Pretty cool.

Mantas are, of course, under threat from humans; they've been eradicated around Indochina because their horns are a valued component in Asian "traditional medicine."  ¶ 6:53 AM