manta ray
nounUS /ˈmæntə ɹeɪ/
Etymology From Spanish mantarraya, itself a compound from manta and raya; according to Jorge Juan y Santacilia and Antonio de Ulloa, so called “for being broad and long like a quilt”.
1
Any of several very large pelagic rays formerly of the genus Manta, now placed in genus Mobula, with winglike pectoral fins, a long tail, and two fins resembling horns that project from the head.
- My favorite are the manta rays. We watch them wing past. The have the largest brain of any fish, I remember.2020, Jenny Offill, Weather, Granta Books (2021), page 181: