Shortfin mako shark

Photo: Michel Frisch · CC BY

The shortfin mako is the fastest shark in the ocean and one of the most hydrodynamically refined animals on Earth, capable of bursts exceeding 70 km/h when pursuing prey. Encounters at Princess Alice Bank occur mainly from July through September, when makos follow warm surface currents and tuna schools that use the seamount as a navigational landmark. Endangered globally due to intensive longline bycatch, each encounter at the seamount is a conservation touchstone for Atlantic pelagic ecology.