Buff Bream

G'day fellas,



We went out for a dive on Sunday off mindarie.  We were out in about 18-19m and before we began descending we looked down to see a huge school of buff bream under us.  (averaging 3-5kg)



As we descended all the buff bream started to form a circle around us and for about 10-15mins they wouldn't leave us alone - they kept swimming around us.  It was like a bait ball though we were in the middle of it!  It was an awesome sight having hundreds of bream swimming within 1-2 metres around us.



I was wondering if anyone knows why they were doing this?  Is it some type of defence mechanism?  Has anyone seen this happen with other species – such as snapper?



cheers



Wayne


kempy's picture

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went down to the mindaries

Mon, 2009-06-01 19:02

went down to the mindaries marina rock wall today and there are sum big ones swimming around to

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I'm unsure why they do this

Mon, 2009-06-01 19:06

I'm unsure why they do this but I had this happen to me when a mate and I were snorkelling in Greens Pool in Denmark. Schools of hundred and hundred of gardies were circling us to the extent that we couldn't see through the schools (only under them as they hung to the surface).

No idea as to why they do that and would like to know. My theory was they were just attracted to us and interested - my mate and I stuffed burley into our boardie pockets and they were dispersed as we swam to attract some fish in for us to see hehe!

dd83wa's picture

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Date Joined: 01/10/08

I have buff bream following

Tue, 2009-06-02 07:53

I have buff bream following me for some time on basically every dive I am on. I think they are just curious.

Especially frequent near Hamelin. Quite often find Sea Sweep amongst them so pays to have a good look. Atleast you know burley is never far away.

Elora Danan's picture

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Date Joined: 15/03/08

Terrirtorial!

Tue, 2009-06-02 17:21

I've once been told that they are very territorial. Often they will protect their own patch of weed so I'm assuming thats what they are doing, defending their ground.

Sometime this week I'm gonna target them, just for some sport. I will post up a few paragraphs and photos. Laughing

wayneleech's picture

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i see - yeah terrirtorial

Tue, 2009-06-02 19:13

i see - yeah terrirtorial would make sense as they did leave us alone once we left that area.... can't wait to get an underwater camera to catch things like this on a vid - was an awesome experience!

Colin Hay's picture

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Date Joined: 23/10/07

Lucky you weren't diving in gear that looked like a piece of

Tue, 2009-06-02 19:25

bread Wayne, they probably would have had a go at you (Lol). They can be pretty aggressive and fight one another to get to a bait.

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Reefmonkey's picture

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Awesome!

Tue, 2009-06-02 21:08

Its a great site to expierience wen it happens, I've had it happen before and i've only expirienced it with buff tho, worst thing is tho buff have a tendancy to crap themselves in unison one moment its awesome and beautiful the next ur surrounded buy a wall of turd's from 100's of bream that u have to swim thru ewwwww,....... maybe thats their defence :)

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got this one on a whole

Tue, 2009-06-02 22:07

got this one on a whole mulie under a float. Fellow fisherman said it wasnt eating it for food buffys are terrirtorial and would of attacked my mulie haha .

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Elora Danan's picture

Posts: 379

Date Joined: 15/03/08

Good photo!

Wed, 2009-06-03 15:23

Thats a solid Buffy Marc. I reckon pound for pound, they are one of the toughest fish in the ocean.