Have You Seen This Pink Manta?

Unfortunately, nobody has seen it since 2019, but they're still looking for it.

When photographer Kristian Lane was freediving off Lady Elliot Island, the southernmost island of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, a bright pink manta ray glided by. He thought his eyes were deceiving him.

Actually, Inspector Clouseau, as it is nicknamed, was first spotted in 2015 in the same area, and Project Manta's scientists had taken a small skin biopsy. Their leading theory is that the manta has a genetic mutation in its expression of melanin, or pigment.

Solomon David, an aquatic ecologist at Louisiana's Nicholls State University, suspects the mutation is a condition called erythrism, which causes an animal's skin pigmentation to be reddish, or in some cases, pink. Guy Stevens, CEO and co-founder of the U.K.-based Manta Trust, agrees that erythrism is the most plausible explanation.

But, whatever the cause, it's a wondrous creature, and one can only hope that a lucky diver will spot it again.

PS: Kudos to you if you get the manta's connection to Inspector Clouseau.