Huge Manta Ray Asks Diver for help Removing painful Hooks caught in her Eye in Ningaloo Bay
Fellow swimmer Monty Halls, who was aboard the divers’ boat throughout, said Freckles must have known Mr Wilton was trying to help.
“Jake went down and down again and she never moved,” Mr Halls said.
“I’m sure that manta knew that Jake was trying to get the hook out.
“That manta absolutely understood what was going on.
“That’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen underwater.”
The video comes barely a month after a Ninaloo Reef pilot captured two whale sharks mating off the coast of Exmoth.
After several free diving attempts to help the manta ray, Mr Wilton rises triumphantly from the ocean hook in hand.
The rare sight is believed to be one of the first times the world’s largest living fish, which migrate up the WA coast every year to the tropical waters of the Ninaloo Reef, have been observed mating.
Ningaloo Reef is one of the longest fringing coral reefs in the world.
The World Heritage-listed site stretches more than 300 km along the coastline and is home to more than 500 tropical fish species, as well as humpback whales, dolphins, whale sharks, dugongs and turtles.
Coral Bay, located along a section of Ninaloo Reef, is a well-known spot to swim with manta rays which congregate in the area in large numbers all year-round.
