Fiji: Dance of the Devil Fish
Hidden away in Fiji’s Yasawa Island group north-east of Nadi, a pre-historic submarine ritual is played out before a mesmerised Roderick Eime. Like dog-fighting starfighters from some science fiction epic, the two creatures banked, dived and barrel-rolled in perfect unison, the slightly smaller of the two trailing behind, appearing to be lining up for an attack. But as the act played out in perfect slow motion harmony, it was clear the two enormous underwater beasts were simply cavorting in an ancient ceremony only they understood. Manta Rays [Manta birostris] are the largest of all the rays and unlike the all-too-deadly stingrays we are now familiar with, these massive, yet gentle and placid plankton feeders just cruise and browse their way around the world's oceans. Worshipped as mystical sea gods by some Pacific Islanders and as wanton demons by the Japanese who believed the beast would envelope a man in its wings and crush him to death. Giant Manta Rays can grow to