An extraordinary rare eagle ray spotted in the Great Barrier Reef after 45 years!

It is nearly after 45 years that a rare and exotic ornate eagle ray (Aetomylaeus vespertilio) was captured on camera in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The footage of the extremely rare species that conservationists believe is getting rarer day by day; it was shared by Jacinta Shackleton, a marine biologist and conservationist, on her Instagram profile.

The biologist was diving in the reef when she first saw two rays on March 25. Later, she managed to capture one of the rays swimming in the sea waters and decided to share her memorable encounter on Instagram with the world.
According to marine biologists, the numbers of these eagle rays have halved over the last 45 years and that’s what makes this sighting exciting news. The ornate eagle ray is an extremely scarce species, so it was no less than a surprise for researchers that the ray was spotted not just once but twice in just a matter of weeks.

On both occasions, the rare species was spotted close to Lady Elliot Island in the Great Barrier Reef. The reef is the world's largest coral reef system, which is composed of more than 2900 individual reefs and 900 islands. The reef stretches for over 2300 km over an area of around 344,400 sq km.

Set in the Coral Sea, Queensland, Australia, the Great Barrier Reef is so big that it can be spotted from outer space. Another thing that makes this place extraordinary is that the Great Barrier Reef is also the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms (built by billions and billions of tiny organisms, called coral polyps).

In the year 1981, the reef was chosen as the World Heritage Site by UNESCO and is also counted among seven natural wonders of the world.