The Ocean’s Greatest Feast

The story of South Africa’s sardine migration is brought vividly to life on camera. Each summer, the sardine run sees billions of sardines traveling up the coast, providing a feast for an array of marine predators.

Dolphins are the keystone heroes of the sardine run, acting as orchestrators of feeding events for sardine predators, such as sharks, gannets and whales. They corral sardines from the main shoal into smaller bait balls for easier feeding.

Orcas swim thousands of miles to intercept the sardine run, but it's not the sardines they're after. They arrive to hunt dolphins, allowing sardines to swim away from their initial predators.

Every winter, billions of sardines off the coast of South Africa embark on their annual breeding migration. The sardine run is the largest biomass migration on the planet, rivaling the great herds of the Serengeti.

The largest biomass migration on the planet takes place every winter along the South African coast – the annual Sardine Run. To film this mega-event, two film crews spent 4 weeks filming predators on their home turf and then following the sardine migration.