---
title: "Bentfin Devil Ray"
description: "Mobula thurstoni — Fish. The bentfin devil ray (Mobula thurstoni), also known as the lesser devil ray, smoothtail devil ray, smoothtail mobula or Thurston's devil ray, is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/bentfin-devil-ray
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Bentfin Devil Ray

> Mobula thurstoni — Fish. The bentfin devil ray (Mobula thurstoni), also known as the lesser devil ray, smoothtail devil ray, smoothtail mobula or Thurston's devil ray, is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae.

- Scientific name: *Mobula thurstoni*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 115
- Wikidata: [Q3280996](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3280996)
- iNaturalist taxon: [105927](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/105927)

## Names

- en: Bentfin Devil Ray
- de: Thurstons Teufelsrochen
- es: Manta doblada
- fr: Mante-vampire

## Countries with the most observations

EC (36), MX (10), MY (6), CX (3)

## Summary

The bentfin devil ray (Mobula thurstoni), also known as the lesser devil ray, smoothtail devil ray, smoothtail mobula or Thurston's devil ray, is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae. It is found worldwide in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate oceans, with records from Australia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States (California), Uruguay, Vanuatu…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentfin_devil_ray

## Photo

![Bentfin Devil Ray](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/bentfin-devil-ray/medium.jpg)

Photo: steve b · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/266248588

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/bentfin-devil-ray?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).