Jokombo

Jokombo is a seamount and reef complex on Ishigaki's eastern side where the open Pacific meets the island shelf, creating a current-swept environment that hosts one of the largest schooling fish spectacles in the Yaeyama Islands — massive balls of bigeye trevally and snapper that compress and spin in response to hunting sharks and tuna pushing up from depth. The site ranges from a sun-flooded reef plateau at 12 metres down a gently sloping wall to 35 metres, with the most dramatic schooling action occurring in the mid-water column between 15 and 25 metres. Occasional pelagic visitors including whale sharks and oceanic manta rays pass through the blue water on the outer edge, drawn by the same current systems that concentrate bait fish over the seamount.