Yet these behemoths’ most puzzling feature is a whip-like tail that can measure as long as the rest of the fish’s body. Why mantas and related rays have such long tails has long been a mystery.

Battams Karl Battams, LASCO's principal investigator at the U.S. Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C., processed some of the images to bring out fine details in the comet's tail and create the ...