LIKE A living balloon this baitball of sardines is ready to burst when threatened by a pointy nosed sailfish. The photographs, taken off the coast of Isla Mujeres, near Cancun, Mexico, show how these water creatures work cooperatively to cut off a portion of a school of sardines swimming close to the seafloor, and drive them to the surface. American photographer Doug Perrine, 60, managed to capture the moment the sailfish manage to herd the bait into a tightly packed ball, ready to pick off for dinner one-by-one. ‘The sailfish took-turns swimming through the bait ball slashing with their bills to kill the fish, which are quickly gobbled up,’ Doug said. ‘Sometimes they light up or change to a bright colour pattern.
The lighthouses of Brittany, from Brest to Le Conquet, stand tall on France’s north-western coast against stunning scenery .
A SERENE turquoise glow glimmers from underneath these powerful icebergs .
A fox takes a tumble and lands on his head when he tries to fend off a pair of eagles in Japan .
A chipmunk, with his cheeks full to bursting, has no intention of leaving with an empty stomach .
MASKED intruders look sinister but really they are a gang of urban exploring pranksters .
A grand 56-bedroom hotel, once heaving with injured soldiers during the First World War, now lies completely abandoned .
A Romanian photographer has captured the unique patterns of hundreds of human eyes in a series of striking macro shots .
SOARING through the air, this is the moment a hungry tawny owl arrives home with dinner .
Beautiful turquoise waves rise and fall in a series of stunning images taken along the coastline of south-eastern Australia .
THIS LITTLE squirrel tries to keep himself snug as snow starts to fall around him .
DIVING boffins fired harpoons into 30-foot-long whale sharks in a bid to put the sea-beasts on Google Maps .