What’s more amazing than seeing a shark’s powerful form swimming through the water? Seeing eight sharks!
This video footage shows a line of eight sharks swimming together. The person filming stands high up above on an overlook or dune. This gives viewers a great chance to see the scope of the environment and how the sharks fit into it. The footage was taken in Plettenberg Bay, an area along the southern coast of South Africa.
Watch the Amazing Footage Now!
These sharks are swimming through the Robberg Nature Reserve. This area has plenty of overlooks that allow for wildlife sightings like this one. During migration season, whales are known to come to the bay and near the coast. Whale watching is a popular activity at the reserve, which is also home to prehistoric rock formations and caves.
A Shiver of Sharks
Because the footage is so far away, it’s hard to identify the specific species based on their silhouettes alone. One man watching remarks that they are probably Bronze Whaler sharks. These sharks hunt in groups. It is not unusual behavior for them to swim in a group of eight. A group of sharks is called a shiver, which may be your reaction as you watch this eerie footage.
A group of sharks is called a shiver.
©iStock.com/vchal
While marine environments are teeming with life, you can’t see any other smaller fish or species from so high up. It looks like the sharks are just peacefully swimming through a vast underwater area with nothing but sand, water, and themselves.
Juveline Bronze Whaler sharks live in shallow water. Based on their location, this may be a shiver of young sharks that are not yet ready to venture out into the deeper ocean. The protected area of the Robberg Nature Reserve would be ideal for their needs as they mature.
Commercial fisheries catch Bronze Whaler sharks and sell them for their meat. Because of this, their numbers have decreased. The decline in their population led Bronze Whaler sharks to be tracked as a near-threatened species. Nature reserves like this one provide a safe place for these animals to live and reproduce, which helps with species survival.
The photo featured at the top of this post is © iStock.com/vchal
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