common bottlenose dolphin vs Giant Oceanic Manta Ray

Tursiops truncatus compared with Manta birostris

Key Differences

• common bottlenose dolphin is Least Concern while Giant Oceanic Manta Ray is Endangered.
• common bottlenose dolphin is carnivore while Giant Oceanic Manta Ray is omnivore.
• Giant Oceanic Manta Ray is 4.7x heavier than common bottlenose dolphin.
• Giant Oceanic Manta Ray lives longer (50 years vs 45 years).

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	common bottlenose dolphin	Giant Oceanic Manta Ray
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fish)
Order	Cetacea (Whales & Dolphins)	Lamniformes (Mackerel Sharks)
Family	Delphinidae (Oceanic Dolphins)	Rhincodontidae (Whale Sharks)
Genus	Tursiops (Bottlenose Dolphins)	Rhincodon (Whale Sharks)
Species	Tursiops truncatus	Manta birostris

Evolutionary Relationship

common bottlenose dolphin and Giant Oceanic Manta Ray share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Chordata. (Chordates)

Conservation Status

common bottlenose dolphin

LC — Least Concern

Population: ~600.0K

Trend: Stable →

Giant Oceanic Manta Ray

EN — Endangered

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	common bottlenose dolphin	Giant Oceanic Manta Ray
Diet	Carnivore	Omnivore
Average Lifespan	45 years	50 years
Average Length	3.0 m	5.0 m
Average Weight	300.0 kg	1.4 t

Habitat & Geographic Range

common bottlenose dolphin

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, among 12 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Taiwan), Europe (6 countries), and South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela).

Giant Oceanic Manta Ray

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including flooded grasslands and savannas, mangrove forests and coastal wetlands, and tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, among 5 distinct biome types spanning the Afrotropic and Indomalayan and Neotropic realms.

Range

Distributed across Australia, Ecuador, Maldives, Mexico, and Mozambique. Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

common bottlenose dolphin

The most studied and recognized dolphin species, bottlenose dolphins inhabit warm and temperate oceans worldwide, from coastal shallows to the open sea. Highly intelligent with large brains relative to body size, they demonstrate self-recognition, complex communication, and social learning. They live in fluid fission-fusion societies and cooperate to herd fish. A keystone indicator species for marine ecosystem health.

Giant Oceanic Manta Ray

The giant manta ray is the largest ray species, with a wingspan up to 7 meters. They are filter feeders.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 1 countries:

🇪🇨 Ecuador