Atlantic Bonito

Photo: Patrick E. Phoebus · CC BY-NC

Fast-moving schools of bonito sweep through the wreck site from June through September, pursuing baitfish schools that accumulate in the structure's lee. As a mid-sized tuna relative they occupy a critical role in the pelagic food web, bridging smaller schooling fish and the large apex predators — including bluefin tuna and blue sharks — that track them. Their speed and coordinated hunting behaviour creates dramatic feeding frenzies visible from the wreck deck.