The Mobulidae (manta rays and devilfishes) are a family of rays consisting mostly of large species living in the open ocean rather than on the sea bottom.
| Mobulidae Temporal range: Late Cretaceous to Recent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mobula birostris at Hin Daeng, Thailand | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Superorder: | Batoidea |
| Order: | Myliobatiformes |
| Suborder: | Myliobatoidei |
| Superfamily: | Dasyatoidea |
| Family: | Mobulidae Gill, 1893[1] |
| Genera | |
Taxonomy
The Mobulidae have been variously considered a subfamily of the Myliobatidae by some authors,[2][3] and a distinct family by others, but recent work favors the latter.[4] Two genera have been traditionally recognized, Manta and Mobula, but recent DNA analysis shows that Mobula as traditionally recognized is paraphyletic to manta rays, making Manta a junior synonym of Mobula and Mobula the only extant genus of the family.[5]
Fossil record
Several genera of fossil mobulids are known, including Archaeomanta, Burnhamia, Eomobula, and Paramobula.[6][page needed][7][8]