Dogtooth Tuna

Photo: Luis P. B. · CC BY-NC

Dogtooth tuna streak through Kehpara's water column during the windier months when upwellings concentrate prey species around the pinnacle. These fast, powerful predators are most visible when they make coordinated attacks on baitfish schools forced to the surface by converging currents, a spectacle that can erupt suddenly and end within seconds. Their presence at Kehpara reflects the site's position on an open-ocean upwelling edge, a type of geography that supports a different and more pelagic fish community than the lagoon reefs closer to shore.