Professional underwater photographer Kristian Laine captured some of the coolest and rarest pictures of this one of a kind, pink manta ray.
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The ray was first sighted back in 2015 near Lady Elliot Island in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. According to Ladbible, this is the only pink manta ray in the world that has ever been seen by humans and recorded.
Kristian told LadBible, “It is very rare because I think there has only been around eight to 10 sightings since the first sighting in 2015. I felt amazed afterwards but also felt like when I was in its eye level, I felt like he was smiling at me.”
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Kristian Laine felt very lucky to not only have gotten pictures of it but swam within touching distance of the exotic creature. The ray has a wingspan of seven feet and was even nicknamed after Inspector Clouseau, who is a detective in the Pink Panther movies.
Normally manta rays are black, white and a mixture of both. The black is usually displayed on the top of their body and it allows the ray to blend in like camouflage with the bottom of the ocean. The white color on the bottom of their body allows them to blend in with the white light from the sun if you were swimming underneath the ray.
Scientists still have no idea why Inspector Clouseau is pink. Kristian says that she’s heard many different theories and the one the makes the most sense right now is that it’s some sort of genetic mutation in the skin causing the melanin to show itself as pink. You can check out more photos from this photographer’s Instagram here.