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I Get to Name a Manta??
Jan. 25th, 2023 08:15 pm
On the diving trip to the Revillagigedos Islands, we played with the giant oceanic mantas, which are identified by the pattern of spots on their bellies. And I submitted photos of some of the mantas to the Pacific Manta Research Group. One of the mantas had only ever been seen once before, by one of their researchers, who give them numbers. So as the first civilian to submit its photo, I get to give it a name.
OMG the responsibility! They live for... well, we don't actually know how long they live. Some of the first ones identified nearly forty years ago are still with us, so at least that long. And the manta researchers are curious to hear the story behind the name, so I can't name it after anything too weirdly niche or fannish, whatever my first inclinations might be XD (And yes, given my current obsessive State of Brain, my very first inclination was to call it Burn Notice after the Gang of Four, but dear god, no).
This may take a few days, but what am I going to call a juvenile male manta with four spots on its belly?
Current thoughts are something like Snowshoe, because the four spots look a bit like the prints left in the snow by a snowshoe hare, or to name a black and white manta after our tuxedo cat. There are many mantas out there named after people's kids and pets - we would not be the first.
OMG the responsibility! They live for... well, we don't actually know how long they live. Some of the first ones identified nearly forty years ago are still with us, so at least that long. And the manta researchers are curious to hear the story behind the name, so I can't name it after anything too weirdly niche or fannish, whatever my first inclinations might be XD (And yes, given my current obsessive State of Brain, my very first inclination was to call it Burn Notice after the Gang of Four, but dear god, no).
This may take a few days, but what am I going to call a juvenile male manta with four spots on its belly?
Current thoughts are something like Snowshoe, because the four spots look a bit like the prints left in the snow by a snowshoe hare, or to name a black and white manta after our tuxedo cat. There are many mantas out there named after people's kids and pets - we would not be the first.
