Prue Wheeler was out for a morning snorkel along Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef on May 5 when she saw an extraordinary sight: schools of fish forming a bait ball that then slowly diminished in size.
A bait ball is created when small fish move tightly packed in a spherical formation around a common center. It is a defensive measure adopted by small schooling fish when they are threatened by predators.
Wheeler told Storyful that “these defense maneuvers almost [appeared] choreographed as their silver bodies dazzle in the most incredible formations.” Credit: Prue Wheeler via Storyful
