Thought some of you science minded folks might be interested. We were off the south end of Hornby on Monday and there were several acres of balls of very small baitfish (3 cm?). They were so dense that you could scoop them up with your hands. Underneath were mature herring, slashing up into the smaller fish and clearly feeding on them. I was pretty sure the small fish were herring and emailed a DFO biologist who confirmed that they looked like juvenile herring. I have some video I will try to post. I have attached a photo of the little fish and a fuzzy underwater photo of the feeding
It makes you think about just how complex the trophic relationships are in the Georgia Strait foodweb. Herring are salmon food and so many other things... I knew they competed with juvenile salmon for planktonic food but never thought they would be competing with salmon for themselves... Pretty cool
It makes you think about just how complex the trophic relationships are in the Georgia Strait foodweb. Herring are salmon food and so many other things... I knew they competed with juvenile salmon for planktonic food but never thought they would be competing with salmon for themselves... Pretty cool