Swim, Swim, Slash
January 15, 2014 6:22 AM Subscribe
Sailfish and the Dredge; a prey's eye view of what it's like to be chased and hunted by a sailfish.
And just for fun, BABY SAILFISH!
And just for fun, BABY SAILFISH!
The fisherman part of me was hoping it would bite, but the rest of me was hoping that it wouldn't. Maybe I need to rethink fishing.
posted by Optamystic at 7:15 AM on January 15, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by Optamystic at 7:15 AM on January 15, 2014 [5 favorites]
It does almost exactly what I imagined it would do: boppity boppity bop!, piñata-style.
Optamystic, I sympathize. I love the outdoor and fiddling-with-the-gear aspects of fishing, but the “dragging a suffocating creature by a bloody barb” aspect less so. For a while I lure-fished in clear water with no hooks, and had the pleasure of watching jack pike stalk and strike without harm.
posted by scruss at 7:34 AM on January 15, 2014 [3 favorites]
Optamystic, I sympathize. I love the outdoor and fiddling-with-the-gear aspects of fishing, but the “dragging a suffocating creature by a bloody barb” aspect less so. For a while I lure-fished in clear water with no hooks, and had the pleasure of watching jack pike stalk and strike without harm.
posted by scruss at 7:34 AM on January 15, 2014 [3 favorites]
There are no hooks on the dredge. Here's an explanation.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:43 AM on January 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:43 AM on January 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
you know, that sailfish would have a really hard time eating corn on the cob. I mean, how does it eat anything? It'd be like ROWR *nose-thing pokes prey away from mouth* ROWR
posted by angrycat at 7:52 AM on January 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by angrycat at 7:52 AM on January 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
Swim, Swim, Slash
Does it prefer heroes?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:00 AM on January 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
Does it prefer heroes?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:00 AM on January 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
What an amazing animal. Marine predators make me want to quit my job, burn my house down, throw away my shoes, move to Key West, live on the beach, and drink rum all day.
posted by stinkfoot at 8:50 AM on January 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by stinkfoot at 8:50 AM on January 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
Being alive and humanMarine predators make me want to quit my job, burn my house down, throw away my shoes, move to Key West, live on the beach, and drink rum all day.
posted by rmless at 10:26 AM on January 15, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by rmless at 10:26 AM on January 15, 2014 [4 favorites]
I mean, how does it eat anything?
He stuns the bait fish with his sword (you can see him trying to do this in the video), and if the fish were real, as opposed to those fakes on the dredge, they would drop off from the school and wiggle aimlessly in the water. The swordfish then doubles back and picks them off at his leisure. I had the pleasure of seeing a fish ball off Vancouver Island. Thousands of needle fish had been balled by diving birds and a small seal, who would swim through the ball with his mouth open. The gulls were having a feast on the surface. I cut the motor and watched from a few feet away. It was amazing.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:43 AM on January 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
He stuns the bait fish with his sword (you can see him trying to do this in the video), and if the fish were real, as opposed to those fakes on the dredge, they would drop off from the school and wiggle aimlessly in the water. The swordfish then doubles back and picks them off at his leisure. I had the pleasure of seeing a fish ball off Vancouver Island. Thousands of needle fish had been balled by diving birds and a small seal, who would swim through the ball with his mouth open. The gulls were having a feast on the surface. I cut the motor and watched from a few feet away. It was amazing.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:43 AM on January 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
I also used to fish in the gulf Islands out of a canoe, which gave me a better opportunity to watch the sea creatures doing their natural thing. The seals would come to the surface and slap the water with their tails or fins, then do it again a short distance away, thus frightening the herring or needle fish into a frenzied ball. In a shallow bay, I watched about a dozen seals try to pick off the schools of Coho salmon, which in turn were feeding off the herring.
I also saw a seal wrap himself up in kelp for camouflage, waiting for the tide rip to bring him a salmon, whereupon he would explode out of the kelp to nab it, then fling it around on the surface like a cat with a mouse.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:52 AM on January 15, 2014
I also saw a seal wrap himself up in kelp for camouflage, waiting for the tide rip to bring him a salmon, whereupon he would explode out of the kelp to nab it, then fling it around on the surface like a cat with a mouse.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:52 AM on January 15, 2014
whereupon he would explode out of the kelp to nab it,
That sounds amazing. I would love to see that.
posted by quin at 1:18 PM on January 15, 2014
That sounds amazing. I would love to see that.
posted by quin at 1:18 PM on January 15, 2014
Exhausted, the sailfish circled for a while, slowing down. It was her last ditch attempt to catch something and this bunch of squids looked irresistible. Never before had her hunting instinct failed her so badly, and just when she needed it most. The sounds of the ocean were fading away, the sunlight was shining directly in her left eye. If she knew more about the inhabitants of the world above, she might have envied them their eyelids now. If she know more about them, she might have not been dying.
posted by hat_eater at 2:13 PM on January 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by hat_eater at 2:13 PM on January 15, 2014 [2 favorites]
That sounds amazing. I would love to see that.
Yes, it was a once in a lifetime moment. The tide was running at a good clip through the pass, and the seal was twisting and spiralling like a football in the kelp blades near the shore. I thought he was simply having fun, or maybe getting rid of parasites. Then he lay there, with the kelp holding him against the current, his skin tones blending perfectly with the kelp, until a salmon came close enough. It totally surprised me when he went for the salmon, but I immediately realized why he had been wrapping himself in the kelp.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 3:20 PM on January 15, 2014 [3 favorites]
Yes, it was a once in a lifetime moment. The tide was running at a good clip through the pass, and the seal was twisting and spiralling like a football in the kelp blades near the shore. I thought he was simply having fun, or maybe getting rid of parasites. Then he lay there, with the kelp holding him against the current, his skin tones blending perfectly with the kelp, until a salmon came close enough. It totally surprised me when he went for the salmon, but I immediately realized why he had been wrapping himself in the kelp.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 3:20 PM on January 15, 2014 [3 favorites]
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