Manta Matcher is a global online database for

manta ray Manta rays are large Batoidea, rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, ''Giant oceanic manta ray, M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, ''Reef manta ray, M. alfredi'', reac ...

Creation

It is one of the Wildbook Web applications developed by Wild Me, a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

not-for-profit organization in the United States, and was created in partnership with Andrea Marshall of the Marine Megafauna Foundation. Giant oceanic manta ray

Manta rays have unique spot patterning on their undersides, which allows for individual identification.

Scuba divers Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scuba'' is an acronym for ...

around the world can photograph mantas and upload their manta identification photographs to the Manta Matcher website, supporting global research and conservation efforts.

Identification of rays

Manta Matcher is a pattern-matching software that eases researcher workload; key spot pattern features are extracted using a

scale-invariant feature transform The scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) is a computer vision algorithm to detect, describe, and match local '' features'' in images, invented by David Lowe in 1999. Applications include object recognition, robotic mapping and navigation, ...

(SIFT) algorithm, which can cope with complications presented by highly variable spot patterns and low contrast photographs.

Purpose and research supported

This

citizen science The term citizen science (synonymous to terms like community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is research conducted with participation from the general public, or am ...

tool is free to use by researchers worldwide. Manta Matcher represents a global initiative to centralize manta ray sightings and facilitate research on these vulnerable species through collaborative studies, including the cross-referencing of regional databases. Manta Matcher has already supported research that contributed to the listing of reef mantas (''Manta alfredi'') on Appendix 1 of the

Convention on Migratory Species The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, also known as the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) or the Bonn Convention, is an international agreement that aims to conserve migratory species throughout their r ...

in November 2014.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://mantamatcher.org Myliobatidae Online databases Biodiversity databases