Tweeted by Carl Zimmer, we have an amazing photo that’s one of the contenders in the 2012 National Geographic photo contest:
Photo and caption by Octavio Aburto
Together with my friend David Castro, we were diving with a large group of Bigeye travellies at Cabo Pulmo National Park, Mexico. Thousands of fish forming a ball during the reproduction courtship. In the afternoon, these fish congregate to form a large spawning aggregation around the reefs of the National Park.
Location: Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur, Mexico
The bigeye trevally (Caranx sexfasciatus) is a large fish: according to Wikipedia, it can grow up to 1.2 m and weigh 18 kg. It lives in the tropical waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
You can also rate 12 photos in the “viewers’ choice” competition.
Cod is great!
I think I have watched too many SF movies.
He should have got a bit closer, and then we would have had a sequel to ‘Man Bites Dog!’: ‘Fish Batters Man!’.
A new collective noun: A tornado of fish
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You might also like:
http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/earth_art_detail.html
I wonder how the photos the diver took came out?
I once encountered a school almost this size (or so it seems in retrospect) while snorkeling in Hawaii. I think it was more compact – a sphere without the tail going off to the left background as seen above, and there were larger (predatory?) fish circling around the perimeter. It simply parted around me and rejoined behind when I swam into it. One of my great snorkeling experiences.
On a somewhat related note, another international photo contest, the “Wiki loves monuments” contest organized by the Wikimedia foundation, recently declared its winners: http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org/
first thought:
looks like something out of the 3rd part of the Matrix movies.
second thought:
Cabo Pulmo? Neat! That’s where I did part of my thesis work.
third thought:
they finally made it into a National Park.
good to hear.
Reblogged this on See Through The World… and commented:
Somehow, the great nature is hard to be explained in words…
Reblogged this on Mark Solock Blog.
Astonishing photograph.
I suspect he means “trevally” rather than “travelly” – nice fish to eat, and I wouldn’t complain about the fish jizm.
A friend, with long family tradition of Norwegian nostalgia here in Minnesota (lutefisk dinners, lefse, etc.) described the coming big night of Christmas-inspired lutefisk consumption this way:
The piece of cod that passeth all understanding.
Which, if you know the Lutheran liturgy from when I was growing up (1960s and 70s) pretty well sends the coofee (or beer) right out your nose!
For any Scandiavian readers: Does anyone still eat lutefisk or lefse anymore? When I first visited Norway, Sweden, and Denmark 20 years ago, I asked about it and everyone laughed: “That was survival food, we stopped eating that generations ago!”
I visited my cousins in Sweden and Norway again this summer and no one ever mentioned these things. Cloudberry preserves, yes, indeed; but no lutefisk or lefse.
I had them forced upon me while growing up. Lefse was just tolerable with butter and sugar; but lutefisk? I think they used to use it for caulking their boats in the old days, not for eating. Gag!
(And I love cod — done almost any way except for lutefisk. Which gives me a chance to pitch an excellent book: Cod by Mark Kurlansky.)
major trouble spelling this morning — it is Friday …
I can almost here John Ratzenberger talking from Finding Nemo movie by looking at this pic. We just need Marlon and Dori looking for the East Australian Current (EAC).
youtube.com/watch?v=Le13by2WM70