Mackerel hunting Sardines

We’re just back from a lovely break on the Lizard and Lands End peninsulas in Cornwall. We shore dived at Porthkerris and Newlyn and I captured footage of two fast-swimming species I’ve never been close enough to film before: Mackerel and Grey Mullet.

The dive site near Newlyn had rocky shallows teeming with Sardines. From time to time they frantically broke the surface, making the water boil as they fled for their lives. As the tide rose in the early evening they took sanctuary in a gulley.  The outcome seemed inevitable so I sat amongst the terrified Sardines and hungry Mackerel with the camera to see if I could film the spectacle.

I recorded this at 60 frames per second instead of the more usual 25 so I could slow down the action by nearly two and a half times. Even at this speed you will see that this is still very fast paced drama. Sit back and enjoy a glimpse of a what must be a very common life and death struggle we are seldom able to witness.

I’ll blog again soon about speedy Grey Mullet at Porthkerris.

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Words by Andy