Giant salmon school lures sharks, swimmers into close quarters

Swimmers explored an immense school of salmon Friday off Australia’s Bondi Beach, unaware that they were dangerously close to sharks.

Swimmers explored an immense school of salmon Friday off Australia’s Bondi Beach, unaware that they were dangerously close to sharks.

The accompanying footage, shared by Drone Shark App, opens with two swimmers several yards from the salmon, and what’s described as a grey nurse shark at the school’s edge.

Another scene shows a nurse shark and swimmer parting the salmon as they swim, each creating a green circle, blocked from each other’s view by the tightly grouped salmon.

“Co-existing with sharks and salmon schools. Not a good idea,” says the Drone Shark App commentator, who provides amusing commentary throughout the 3:39 clip. (The commentator declined to reveal his identity.)

RELATED: Sharks, swimmers unknowingly create spooky image

At 1:56, several distance swimmers enter the picture and begin to pass near or over one of the sharks. “Norman, there’s a huge school of humans coming,” the commentator says, apparently having named the shark Norman. “Look out!”

Two swimmers pass directly over the shark but do not seem to spot the predator.

The nurse sharks are not fazed by the presence of people, seemingly interested only in the salmon. But schooling salmon might also attract great white sharks, as Drone Shark App implies in its video description:

“Guys, I recommend do not swim in the salmon schools and swim on the beach side if you can as I’ve seen the more dangerous sharks approach from the outside on many occasions.”

On this morning, Drone Shark App did not spot any larger sharks. But the group did capture footage of stingrays, dolphins and seals foraging within and around the salmon.

–Images courtesy of Drone Shark App

Shark, swimmers unknowingly create spooky image

Ghost or the Grinch? These are just two observations regarding an image captured via drone Friday off Australia’s Bondi Beach, just in time for Halloween.

Ghost or Grinch?

These are just two observations regarding an image captured Friday via drone off Australia’s Bondi Beach, just in time for Halloween.

The image, captured by Drone Shark App and shared via social media, shows two swimmers and what’s described as a grey nurse shark swimming through an immense school of salmon just yards from shore.

The swimmers parted the salmon in the form of two circular clearings, which appear as eyes in a ghost-like face, while the shark cleared an area that might be perceived as a mouth.

The salmon school was so dense that the swimmers and shark seemed oblivious to each other’s presence. The spooky image, therefore, was purely coincidental.

“Do you see what I see?” Drone Shark App wrote on Facebook. “Tell me what you see?”

“Ooooh, it looks like a ghost. Just in time for Halloween,” one commenter wrote.

“Grinch,” stated another.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Angler lands record-shattering catfish with remarkable ease

But some comments pertained purely to the subjects.

“I see two people who want to be eaten,” a follower chimed in.

Reads another comment: “More reasons to fearfully admire the beautiful ocean and only go in a few feet from shore.”

Schooling salmon are common off Sydney at this time of year, and the fish attract both swimmers and apex predators.

In another Facebook post, Drone Shark App shared the video footage from which the accompanying screen shot was pulled. It shows several swimmers near or within the salmon school, oblivious to two nurse sharks also swimming through the school.

The drone operator, when contacted by For The Win Outdoors, asked only to be identified as Drone Shark App. The group’s social media pages are filled with photos of video clips showing sea life off Australia’s beaches.