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Bait Ball
Photograph by Enric Sala, National Geographic
In September 2009, National Geographic Fellow Enric Sala, Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle, and leading marine scientists from across the globe gathered in Costa Rica at Cocos Island, an uninhabited spot of land ringed by some of the most shark-rich waters anywhere. The Pristine Seas team worked with local marine scientists and conservation organizations to document the aquatic ecosystem. The data, they hope, will help to establish new scientific baselines for intact—and critically important—environments.
Here, sharks and dolphins herd schooling prey into a whirling sphere near the surface called a bait ball. Fish caught in the vortex become quick meals for diving seabirds from above and charging predators from below.
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Dorado
Photograph by Enric Sala, National Geographic
In the depleted waters just outside the protected halo that rings Cocos Island, a single hapless dorado (also known as mahi-mahi or dolphin fish) makes up an entire day’s meager catch on a fishing line with 500 baited hooks.
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White-Tip Sharks
Photograph by Enric Sala, National Geographic
White-tip sharks, often dormant by day, swarm the rocks in the waters near Cocos Island by night. The extraordinary abundance of sharks in Cocos waters—among the highest anywhere on Earth—reflects the relative health and maturity of this marine ecosystem, declared off-limits to fishing by Costa Rica more than 20 years ago.
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Jack Fish
Photograph by Enric Sala, National Geographic
A pair of jack fish swims above a school at Cocos. Nutrient-rich waters from the deep Pacific rise along the island’s flanks, sustaining its diverse population of sea creatures.
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Manuelita Island
Photograph by Enric Sala, National Geographic
Booby birds find a scraggly perch on tiny Manuelita Island, overlooking Chatham Bay and Cocos Island. Remote, lush, and protected as a Costa Rican national park, the volcanic Cocos matches author Michael Crichton’s descriptions of Isla Nublar, the setting for his fictional Jurassic Park.
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Frogfish
Photograph by Enric Sala, National Geographic
Camouflaged to resemble a tangerine-colored reef sponge, this frogfish perches between chunks of coral and waddles across the seafloor on modified pectoral and pelvic fins that resemble feet.
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Sharks
Photograph by Octavio Aburto, National Geographic
A school of sharks lurks just below the ocean surface near Cocos’ rocky shore.
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Soldierfish and Snappers
Photograph by Octavio Aburto, National Geographic
Colorful reef fish—red bigscale soldierfish and blue and gold snappers—hew close to a shadowy crevice, where they might evade hungry passing sharks.
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Sea Turtle
Photograph by Octavio Aburto, National Geographic
Piedra Sucia—Dirty Rock—looms behind one of the many sea turtles found in waters just off the Cocos coast. Satellite beacons attached to turtles by scientists reveal that some stay close to the island their entire lives, while others migrate hundreds of miles, well beyond the park’s protected waters.
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Whale Shark
Photograph by Octavio Aburto, National Geographic
A study in spots, a whale shark dwarfs Ocean Now team diver Enric Ballesteros. Though the largest of living sharks, these gentle giants don’t bite. Rather, they filter-feed on plankton and other small marine creatures, which they suck into their open mouths as they swim.
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Hammerhead Shark
Photograph by Kyler Abernathy, National Geographic
Schools of hammerheads stop by Cocos during their long migrations to visit the island's so-called "cleaning stations," where smaller fish consume parasites on the sharks' skin and in their gills and mouths.
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