Atlantic silverside

Atlantic silversides amass in the caves at Eden Rock during their summer baitfish aggregations, forming tight, shimmering schools of millions that fill entire chambers and create a living silver curtain through which divers can slowly pass. The aggregations are a predator-avoidance strategy based on the confusion effect — individual fish within a dense school are statistically less likely to be targeted by predators. Nurse sharks, tarpon, and jacks gather outside the cave entrances to ambush fish that stray from the group.