Manta Ray Sighting?

[shoupart]

A non-diver friend of mine told me that some years ago, she was snorkeling around Catalina and saw a manta ray.

I was skeptical, especially since she didn't say "manta" but just "big, gigantic ray, 15 feet across". I showed her some shots of bat rays, but she said it had those little horn-type structures on the head unique to mantas.

I was STILL skeptical, so I researched the range and found it was pretty unlikely, though rays might be sighted as far north as upper Baja California.

What's more, I read a report that a credible witness had seen mantas off Dana Point in 2007.

So I suppose it's possible... but I was curious whether any you have ever seen a manta in Los Angeles county waters?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Rare sight: Manta rays spotted off Dana Point - Beach Blog - OCRegister.com
Here's the story and a pictures of the three mantas off Dana Point. I've never heard of a sighting underwater here, but I had a buddy who claimed he saw hammerheads at Angel's Gate.

 

[shoupart]

Maybe it could happen on those El Nino years, when we get the warm waters up here. After all, if turtles can show up, I guess other stuff could, too.