Horse-eye Jack

Photo: Christian Amador Da Silva · © all rights reserved

Horse-eye jacks form dense, fast-moving schools in the water column above the reef, their large reflective eyes and silver flanks catching every angle of sunlight in a disorienting visual effect for divers swimming through the school. They aggregate here in response to the same current-driven upwelling that concentrates prey, and the schools often interact with barracuda aggregations in a complex mid-water dance. The jacks' presence on this reef has been consistent for decades, marking it as a stable aggregation point within the local pelagic ecosystem.