Manta rays are filter feeders. They swim with their mouths wide open to pull water over their gills. Special structures inside their gills siphon plankton and krill into their bellies and expel water.
This style of feeding has worked for millions of years when almost everything in the water was edible. If a manta ray opened its mouth, it was getting food—until about 50 years ago when plastic started entering the ocean.
Now, up to half of what manta rays consume can be plastic. #4ocean #4MantaRays 📸: @shawnheinrichs