Manta rays can be pretty tough to read. Expression-wise, they’re not exactly full of emotion. It’s kind of like bulldog, or a boxer, or a boston terrier: unless you know them, they always look kind of sad or bored. But this manta ray makes it pretty clear that he’s in a really good mood. Or maybe not. Flipping could be a manta ray’s way of saying “get up off me.”
While on a data collection mission in Peru, a scientist named Josh Stewart was trying to get a photo of the manta’s pattern for future identification. But when he got up close, the manta flipped out… literally.