[Narrator] They are the birds of the sea gracefully batting their wings as they glide through the water.

Catching a glimpse of the majestic eagle ray is a highlight for boaters and divers alike.

[Patrick] It looks like they're flying through the water, and their spots really makes 'em stand out.

[Cecilia] I'm captivated by these rays.

They're absolutely beautiful.

They're incredibly strong swimmers.

[Matt] You look at their wings, I mean, it's just like all muscle.

They can hang out in a fiveknot current effortlessly.

[Ariadna] Their capacity of eating hardshelled prey, that's amazing to me.

[Narrator] Found mostly in tropical and subtropical waters, eagle rays use a variety of habitats.

[Matt] They're on the reef, they're in the lagoon, they're in the shallowest of waters.

[Kim] There's five species of pelagic eagle rays around the world.

The eagle ray that we have in the Atlantic Basin and here in the Gulf of Mexico is the whitespotted eagle ray.

[Narrator] The whitespotted eagle ray is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

[Matt] However, looking at distinct portions of its range, that status changes, right?

So actually in U.S. waters, the species is of least concern.

As you move through Central and South America, it changes dramatically.

[Kim] Because in certain places around the world, they're taken in fisheries.

[Narrator] Despite their designation as globally endangered, relatively little is known about the eagle rays’ ecology and life history.

[Kim] Rays have been very under the radar.

And so we like to say we're gonna start a ray volution.

[Narrator] Protected in Florida and Bermuda, these locations make for great study sites of the animals.

[Cecilia] We're trying to figure out what the feeding behavior and the movement behavior of these rays is like.

[Kim] And we're learning so much more about them, every day, and we need that data for conservation and management.

[Researcher 1] No tag.

[Researcher 2] No tag?

[Narrator] What are scientists learning about whitespotted eagle rays?

And how is technology aiding them in this process?