Laurent Ballesta and Blancpain has posted the full film documenting the Gombessa IV expedition to Fakarava, French Polynesia. It features the team’s efforts to explain the mating aggregation of camouflage grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion) that occurs annually in the Pass, along with the predatory behavior of the large numbers of grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos.)
A paper in the Current Biology Journal describes the “inverted trophic pyramid” that exists at the South Pass at Fakarava, French Polynesia. Between 250 to 700 grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) inhabit the area thanks to the grouper spawning aggregations that occur in the pass.
Join Wetpixel on our trip to French Polynesia to dive with huge schools of gray reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) and the annual marbled or camouflaged grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion) spawning aggregation for which its atolls are famous.
Wetpixel publisher Eric Cheng has posted some stunning footage of schooling grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) at Fakarava’s south pass (Tomakohua) in French Polynesia. As it was shot with a Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera in CinemaDNG RAW format at 24fps, the colour correction and conversion was carried out in Lightroom.