December 13, 2007
Food chain
The journey back by boat was uneventful - unpleasantly rough seas, and pitifully few birds, of which 99% were Wedge-tailed Shearwaters - until we reached the Belep islands, and I spotted a cloud of seabirds.
Thoughtfully Gilles, our captain, was willing to take us in for a closer look.
Among the hordes of noddies, shearwaters and boobies were several Sooty Terns, a species notably absent from Surprise.
The water was foaming as thousands of tiny baitfish jumped out of the water...
... to escape predation by Yellowfin Tuna, which were apparently driving them up into a baitball (I had only heard of whales doing this).
To add to the melee, the larger fish were being harrassed by some impressively-sized sharks (ID, anyone?).
Quite the spectacle!
Posted by rjhall at December 13, 2007 10:28 PM