Wire services are spreading the news worldwide of an unusual weekend find near Boston, a giant manta ray.

Salem’s sea monster is really a manta ray

Experts thought they were being fed a whopper of a fish tale – but when they got to Salem they were astounded to find locals had netted a giant monster from the deep.

Marine biologists from the New England Aquarium were stunned when they set eyes on the corpse of a giant Atlantic manta ray, weighing more than 600 pounds and boasting an 11-foot wing span.

Locals saw the sea beast’s lifeless body floating under Salem’s Essex Bridge [on Sunday, August 12, 2007]. Jet skiers dragged it to a nearby dock.

“It is very unusual to get this kind of animal in New England. I was surprised when I first saw it,” said Dan Laughlin of the New England Aquarium.

“People have been coming to see it in groups and we have been helping them interpret what their eyes are seeing,” said Laughlin.

He said it is impossible to determine the exact cause of the creature’s death without an autopsy.

“To me, this animal looks very thin and it is half the size of a fully grown adult so it certainly didn’t die of old age,” Laughlin said. Environmental police planned to tow it out to sea last night to “let nature take its course.”Mike Underwood
Boston Herald, August 13, 2007

Atlantic manta rays, called devil fish in the past, (Manta birostris) have been found to be as large as 29 feet across, although 22 feet is typical for adults. For one to be so far north is rare, as they are usually found in tropical, subtropical and some temperate waters between latitudes of 35°N and 35°S.