Reef Manta Ray Satellite Tracking in Papua New Guinea, 2016-2018

Ten adult reef manta rays were tracked for 4–181 days using pop-off archival satellite tags in the Samarai Islands of Papua New Guinea. The data reveals strong site-attached movement patterns, with 75% of relocations within ten kilometers of the tagging site. Anna M. Knochel led this first investigation into the species' behavior and ecology in this region, providing insights for sustainable tourism management.

Use Cases

• Modeling home range and dispersal characteristics based on horizontal displacement data.
• Analyzing fine-scale habitat preferences based on bathymetry and chlorophyll-a values.
• Investigating behavioral plasticity in vertical water column occupancy in response to seasonal oceanographic conditions.
• Informing marine protected area design based on site-attached movement patterns.

Strengths

• Data tracks ten individual animals across two distinct monsoonal periods.
• Tags recorded data for durations ranging from 4 to 181 days, providing varied temporal coverage.
• The dataset provides the first ecological insights for this species in Papua New Guinea.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is small (349.5 KB), indicating limited scope.

Provenance

Source

Anna M. Knochel via figshare.

Collection Method

Data gathered using SPLASH10-F-321A pop-off archival satellite tags.

Time Range

2016–2018

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-28 17:31:20; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Samarai Islands, Milne Bay, southeastern Papua New Guinea.