Video shows explosive moment dolphins attacked massive school of salmon off Australia

A chaotic predator-on-predator feeding frenzy was caught on video off Australia’s southern coast, when a massive school of salmon was invaded by voracious dolphins.

The video shows the moment tens of thousands of salmon began to collectively panic, resulting in what amounted to an underwater explosion.

It was recorded Nov. 10 near the coastal town of Merimbula by blogger Jason Moyce — known as “Trapman Bermagui” — who admitted even he was caught off guard.

“I didn’t see the dolphins at all till they just turned up while filming,” he wrote on Facebook.

“I could hear the noise from 100m (328 feet) away. Incredible to watch in real life.”

His video reveals it only took a few dolphins to create the panic. The predators are seen charging into the school of fish, then quickly exiting (likely with their mouth full).

Prior to the attack, the “monster school” of salmon blanketed the shallow seafloor and was shown moving in slow, hypnotic circles.

The beauty of their movement disguised something ugly beneath the surface: Australian salmon gather in such schools to feast on smaller bait fish, experts say.

That means the video captured overlapping feeding frenzies.

It was one of two dolphin attacks Trapman Bermagui recorded along the rocky shoreline, and the second video appears to show the dolphins herding the salmon like sheep to their doom.

“Salmon are a natural food source for large marine predators including dolphins, seals, sea lions and a wide range of shark species, which are known to follow large salmon schools along the coast,” according to Australia’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

Trapman Bermagui’s footage, lasting just over a minute, has been viewed more than 47,000 times and gotten nearly 1,500 reactions and comments.

“Amazing seeing the salmon being forced to the shore,” Brian Leach wrote.

“Awesome to see and what a noise as the salmon break the surface,” Micah Briene posted.

This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 6:52 AM with the headline "Video shows explosive moment dolphins attacked massive school of salmon off Australia."