Why is this manta ray pink?

Graceful, effortless, awe-inspiring… these are the words that spring to mind when describingviewers upwards knows that most mantas are basically black on top and white underneath. This coloration, called counter-shading, is underwater camouflage common to many rays and sharks. It hides them against the bright sky when seen from below, or against the dark depths when seen from above. Not always, however. On Australia’s east coast, there lives a male reef manta ray who is thought to owe his eye-catching blush to erythrism, a genetic mutation. First noticed on the Great Barrier Reef in 2015, the bizarre pink manta has been recorded on only a handful of occasions. Erythrism is usually seen in birds, mammals and insects such as grasshoppers.