Journey Into the Centre of a Massive Bait Ball in Curacao

Bait balls are one of the most mesmerizing sights a scuba diver can come across. Massive numbers of small fish school together in a tight ball, moving as if they are a single, gigantic organism. Swimming within millimetres of each other, they move almost in unison, darting in different directions to confuse predators. Their fluid movement and shimmering scales make it hard for a predator to follow them. The predators wait on the outside of the bait ball, hoping for one or two to break from the protection of the school. The more experienced ocean animals know that they can herd the group to the surface where they will find fleeing more difficult.
Occasionally, diving birds such as pelicans will join the assault, creating enough of a distraction to make an attack from below more likely to succeed.
As these divers drifted along Double Reef in Curacao, led by their guide, Lucy, the bait ball loomed ahead. She had told them she would be looking for the bait ball on this dive and she found it as they hoped.
Hundreds of thousands of small, silvery fish, they formed this bait ball. It changed shape fluidly, at times resembling a tornado that would suck them in, and at other times, a large shimmering cloud, hypnotic in its shape-shifting movement. And then the bait ball enveloped them, making room, but swallowing the divers up and nearly eclipsing the light from above. The shiny fish are indescribably beautiful as they surround a diver.
And then they noticed the barracuda, the snappers, and the fish that looked like tuna, swimming around the edges of the bait ball, herding the fish into a tight group.
The divers lost sight of their friends, they lost their sense of up and down, their sense of their depth, and they lost their minds as they were blown away by the visual effect of hundreds of thousands of fish that swim within an inch of each other without bumping into the others. They moved slowly, then suddenly changed direction and darted past them quickly, only to stop and hover.
These bait balls are one of the most beautiful things to see on a scuba dive.

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