A popular proverb is:

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

“Teach a manta (ray) fish...” is an obvious joke. “Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a manta fish and you’ve proved that rays are trainable” was posted on Twitter on July 24, 2012. “Give a manta fish and the aquarium will accept your kind donation. Teach a manta fish and congratulations you’re making waves in marine biol” was posted on Twitter on July 5, 2013.

“Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a manta fish and it won’t sting you” was posted on Reddit—Jokes on May 18, 2018.


Wikipedia: Manta ray
Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus Manta. The larger species, M. birostris, reaches 7 m (23 ft 0 in) in width while the smaller, M. alfredi, reaches 5.5 m (18 ft 1 in). Both have triangular pectoral fins, horn-shaped cephalic fins and large, forward-facing mouths. They are classified among the Myliobatiformes (stingrays and relatives) and are placed in the family Myliobatidae (eagle rays).

Twitter
OL’ 🎪 BIGTOP
@Jimhickox
I’m presently reminded of the old saying, “teach a manta fish and you’ll eat for a thousand lifetimes”.
7:39 PM - 9 Mar 2012

Twitter
Zach Sherwin
@zachsherwin
Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a manta fish and you’ve proved that rays are trainable.
2:27 PM - 24 Jul 2012

Twitter
Becca Piano
@BeccaPiano
Give a manta ray a fish,it’ll eat for a day. But teach a manta ray to fi..Wait. That’s just stupid. This meme’s gone too far. ABORT! ABORT!!
2:22 AM - 18 Dec 2012

Twitter
👤 Oscar Morris
@oscar_morris
Give a manta fish and the aquarium will accept your kind donation. Teach a manta fish and congratulations you’re making waves in marine biol
12:41 PM - 5 Jul 2013

Twitter
andrew
@rinbcage
Teach a manta fish, and you’re already mistaken because it’s called a manta ray, also they’re ruthless killers, stop trying to teach it love
5:34 PM - 5 Jul 2013

Twitter
That nobody you know
@The_Farwall
Give a manor fish, and the cook will make kedgeree for breakfast.
Teach a manta fish and they’ll be all like “Dude, I’m already fish.”
11:32 AM - 27 Feb 2015

Twitter
Lyndon Hood
@lyndonhood
Teach a man to fish, you’ll feed him for life. Teach a manta fish, you’ll soon be able to form an army of oceanic rays distributed through tropical waters worldwide.
1:34 PM - 27 Apr 2018

Reddit—Jokes
Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day.
submitted May 18, 2018 by fatherjocular
Teach a manta fish and it won’t sting you.