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Cool Sailfish Photos
Received these photos in email this AM - Pretty impressive!
Adorned for the hunt, with fin raised and changeable colors flashing, a sailfish in the Gulf of Mexico circles a ball of sardines, preparing to strike.
Hunters gather: More than a hundred sailfish keep tabs on an elephant-size school of sardines off Mexico 's Isla Mujeres. The big fish, which can stretch eight feet tip to tip, drive their prey up from deeper water for easier feeding near the sunlit surface.
Wielding its bony bill, the predator slices through a sardine school to isolate a smaller cluster—more controllable as the prey zigzag to elude capture. Sardines seek safety in numbers, moving as one.
Like wolves on a caribou herd, sailfish cooperate—sometimes for several hours—to turn unwieldy prey into a manageable meal.
Sailfish circle a small cluster of sardines, broken off from a larger school. The predators shoot in from all sides, popping open fins and flashing iridescent colors as they get up close. 'It's like saying, Boo! I'm here!' says marine scientist Guy Harvey, a longtime sailfish observer. 'There's a shock effect that pushes prey together
A giant dorsal fin and a powerful bill are part of a sailfish's hunting gear. The fin, when popped open, appears to help in corralling prey—from sardines (above) to anchovies to jacks. The bill is used to stun individual fish. Battered prey may attempt to flee, but few escape the speedy sailfish that chase them down
Once a ball is under control, the sailfish take turns shooting through it, heads whipping side to side as they use their bills to bat sardines with remarkable precision. Pursuers then nab stunned fish before they can escape.
Whittled down to its last bloody stragglers, the ball spins in a slow vortex, prey exhausted and no longer in perfect concert. Typically sailfish will consume every last one.
Sailfish display an amazing array of colors, which can change as their environment and activities change. The brightest colors flash when the fish are stressed or excited.
Though sailfish will dive a hundred feet or more to find prey, they prefer to feed under the light of day. When clouds blocked the sun during photographer Paul Nicklen's encounters, the sailfish—and then the sardines—quickly dispersed.
Splashing back into the sea after breaching the surface in pursuit of prey, this sailfish snapped up a sardine that had become separated from its school. With prey still at large, the predator will soon head back into the whirl.
A sportfisher's dream, the sailfish is big and beautiful. Its bill can pierce a wooden boat hull, and its speed rivals that of marlins and tunas.
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Originally Posted by Gringo
