I adored Manta Rays as a kid.
For some reason I always associate them with frogmen and skin divers.
It must have been the influence of Jacques Cousteau back in the Sixties and wonderful book covers and illustrations like these:
Of course Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and other underwater shows and films will have popularised the Ray too. The Flying Sub itself looks like one!
They are still popular sea creatures. Modern shorts include this New Atlantis Wild film
Did you like Manta Rays? Did you have a favourite illustration or even a toy or game?
funnily enough, I loved manta's and rays as a kid and squid and octopus, probably as they look so alien, so feeding into my space obsession. I had a large book of animals and each page depicted a different habitat. The deep sea page had a dark green ocean populated with a massive black shark, a manta, a torpedo ray and a remora - all depicted in dark black tones. It affected me deeply, along with other sinister images, such as a shadowy model of an icthyosaur in Liverpool Museum! Bill
ReplyDeleteWe swam in the same ocean Bill. Never seen that animal book though. Have you still got it? Some of the art in this post was by Mort Kunstler, which could mean dead artist! Is it a real artist's name I wonder?
Deletewell given the slightly iffy nature of the magazine, Stag, I wouldnt becsurprised if it isnt a pseudonym. Book went west years ago unfortunately.
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