Atlantic horse mackerel

Photo: Erik Schlögl · CC BY-NC

Atlantic horse mackerel form massive bait balls above Baixo do Sul that attract virtually every large predator in the area. They school in numbers reaching the tens of thousands, using hydrodynamic drafting to reduce individual energy expenditure in the persistent currents that sweep the plateau. Their schooling behaviour is so precise that individual fish maintain consistent positions within the school, responding to neighbours' movements within milliseconds through lateral line detection.