Mobula

{{Short description|Genus of cartilaginous fishes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|34|0}} Early Oligocene to present{{cite journal| last =Sepkoski| first =Jack| title =A compendium of fossil marine animal genera (Chondrichthyes entry)| journal =Bulletins of American Paleontology| volume =364| page =560| year =2002| url =http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=575&rank=class| accessdate =9 January 2008 | url-status=dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120510170834/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=575&rank=class| archive-date =10 May 2012}}

| status = CITES_A2

| status_system = CITES

| status_ref = {{Cite web|title=Appendices|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date= 14 January 2022|website=CITES}}

| image = Mobula breaching.jpg

| image_caption = Mobula sp breaching, Baja California

| image_upright = 1.1

| taxon = Mobula

| authority = Rafinesque, 1810

| type_species = Raja mobular

| type_species_authority = Bonnaterre, 1788

}}

Mobula is a genus of rays in the family Mobulidae that is found worldwide in tropical and warm, temperate seas.{{cite journal | last=White |last2=Corrigan |last3=Yang |last4=Henderson |last5=Bazinet |last6=Swofford |last7=Naylor | year=2017 | title=Phylogeny of the manta and devilrays (Chondrichthyes: mobulidae), with an updated taxonomic arrangement for the family | journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=182 | pages=50–75 | doi=10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx018 |doi-access=free }} Some authorities consider this to be a subfamily of the Myliobatidae (eagle rays).{{cite book| author=Nelson, J.S. | year=2006 | title=Fishes of the World | edition=4| publisher=John Wiley & Sons| title-link=Fishes of the World }}{{FishBase genus | genus = Mobula| month = July | year = 2017}} Their appearance is similar to that of manta rays, which are in the same family, and based on genetic and morphological evidence, the mantas belong in Mobula (they are traditionally in their own genus Manta).

Species of this genus are often collectively referred to as "devil rays", "flying mobula", or simply "flying rays", due to their propensity for breaching, sometimes in a spectacular manner. These rays gather in groups and leap out of the surface into the air up to around two metres before splashing back into the water.{{cite web |url=https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/the-spectacular-display-of-the-mobula-ray.html |title=The spectacular display of the mobula ray |last1=Pavid |first1=Katie |date=n.d. |website=Natural History Museum |publisher=The Trustees of The Natural History Museum, London |access-date=25 September 2022 }}

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| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31n7m7DGSn0 Mobula rays "vortex feeding"]

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