This photo taken in July, 2018 by amateur underwater photographer Alexander Safonov captures the moment of dolphins queuing up for a large "meal" of migrating sardines in waters near St. Johns, South Africa. Alexander Safonov, a software engineer, travelled to the Port of St John's in June 2018 to record with his camera the Sardine Run - an underwater migration where millions of fish head eastwards from their cool spawning waters near Cape Town in search of zooplankton. He was fortunate to photograph five bait balls in his two week trip, winning the 'Wideangle Traditional' category in the Our World Underwater 2019 competition.
This photo taken in July, 2018 by underwater photographer Alexander Safonov shows common dolphins and gannets (left) attacking a "bail ball" in waters near St. Johns, South Africa. Followed by thousands of hungry dolphins, sharks, sea birds and seals, the migrating sardines protect themselves from this onslaught by forming into giant balls called "bait balls" which can measure as large as 65 feet, or 20 metres, in diameter.
This photo taken in July, 2018 by underwater photographer Alexander Safonov shows common dolphins and gannets attacking a "bail ball" in waters near St. Johns, South Africa.
This photo taken in July, 2018 by amateur underwater photographer Alexander Safonov captures the moment of dolphins queuing up for a large "meal" of migrating sardines in waters near St. Johns, South Africa.
This photo taken in July, 2018 by underwater photographer Alexander Safonov captures the moment of dolphins queuing up for a large "meal" of migrating sardines in waters near St. Johns, South Africa. Alexander Safonov travelled to the Port of St John's in June 2018 to record with his camera the Sardine Run - an underwater migration where millions of fish head eastwards from their cool spawning waters near Cape Town in search of zooplankton. He was fortunate to photograph five bait balls in his two week trip, winning the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards/the Amateur's Natural History category.
This photo taken in July, 2018 by amateur underwater photographer Alexander Safonov captures the moment of dolphins queuing up for a large "meal" of migrating sardines in waters near St. Johns, South Africa.
This photo taken in July, 2018 by amateur underwater photographer Alexander Safonov shows common dolphins in waters near St. Johns, South Africa.
