Bait Ball Engulfs Shark With Sea Lion in Pursuit
What's better than spotting a sixgill shark? Watching a silvery bait ball engulf a slow-swimming sixgill...and then getting buzzed by a sea lion! This deep sea circus was spotted at 65m/214ft in Osborn Bank. It's the fin-al countdown for Shark Week, and the end of our expedition exploring the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.
Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) is one of the agencies tasked with the protection of deep-water habitats, commercially important species, and deep sea coral ecosystems around the islands, yet lacks a detailed understanding of the distribution, abundance, and condition of the resources within the Sanctuary. Less than 50% of the seafloor within the CINMS boundaries has been mapped by high-resolution sonar, and the 2016 Nautilus expedition to the same region worked to cut this knowledge gap nearly in half.
