Quote:Charging the shoal of sardines, both sharks have their jaws crammed with the fish - one pirouettes from the side of the baitball while the other lunges from below. The "spectacle of light and movement" was captured by US photographer Doug Perrine, off the east coast of South Africa.
The judges' were unanimous in selecting the image from among 18,500 entries, sent from over 50 countries. "What makes the drama - the great swirling mass of frantic fish and the power of the, almost balletic, charging sharks - also creates the beautiful dynamic lines of movement and contrast of light and shade, silver and blue," says Roz Kidman Cox, one of the judges.
Perrine snapped the picture during the annual sardine run - where vast shoals of sardines migrate up South Africa's east coast. A pod of dolphins herded the sardines to the water's surface into a baitball - soon attracting other predators such as tuna and sharks to the rich pickings.
"The sharks would charge through the baitball, bursting through the other side or shooting clear out of the water, their mouths stuffed full of fish," says Perrine. "So intent were they on feeding that they often bumped me as they rushed past. It was one of the most intense experiences of my life."
'intent on feeding', in shark terms that would mean, "If it stays still long enough, it's lunch".
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