August 23, 2012 — The past two weeks have featured a ton of wildlife action along the shoreline of Long Beach Island and neighboring beaches. Large schools of Atlantic Menhaden or Peanut Bunker (Brevoortia tyrannus) have entered the area and been pushed very close to shore by a wide variety of predators. These schools of fish are easy to see from the beach, recognizable as dark patches of choppy water.
When close enough, beach goers may even smell these fish as they give off a strong, oily scent. This oily quality is one of the main reasons why Atlantic Menhaden are fished commercially as that fish oil is used in a wide variety of products, ranging from food to cosmetics.
Predators surround these schools of Atlantic Menhaden and push them into tighter and tighter packs, creating a bait ball, an almost solid sphere-like area of small fish that are an easy meal. Adult Atlantic Menhaden are roughly a foot long and almost any predatory fish larger than that love to feed on bunker schools. Recreational fishermen will target Atlantic Menhaden schools to go after the bluefish and striped bass that are likely feeding on bunker below the surface.
The Atlantic Menhaden schools have also attracted various cetaceans to our coast. Resident bottlenose dolphins have enjoyed easy dining, working together to push their prey against the beach and sometimes directly onto the sand! Pilot whales have been reportedly sighted feeding further offshore. The morning of Aug. 17 gave early beach goers the fairly rare opportunity to witness the feeding and breeching patterns of several humpback whales close to shore. The whales made their way north to south, feeding on bunker schools and playing close to shore, putting on a fantastic show.
Area bunker schools have also provided ample opportunity for surf fisherman to land some small sharks. Small brown sharks, thresher sharks, and sandbar sharks have been landed with high frequency in August, drawn into the shallows by Atlantic Menhaden schools. A video of a feeding frenzy of sharks on a bunker school just off Island Beach State Park on Aug. 16 has attracted fantastic attention as most beach goers are fascinated that sharks do indeed inhabit our waters. While these sharks are small enough that they do not pose a real threat to humans, it should be noted that during a true feeding frenzy, there is a serious danger of swimmers being bitten. As the water becomes more and more murky from the action of intense swimming of predator and prey, sharks and bluefish will often swim through the water with jaws wide open, biting anything they run into.
Read the full story in the Asbury Park Press