I went surfing this weekend at the beach I've been frequenting since I was a toddler. I was about to go in the water when I saw these bundlings of fins up and down the beach protruding the water. After 25 years of going to this beach I had never seen such a thing. They were these circles about 12 feet in diameter or so with about 20 fins in each grouping. My first instinct was "shit...I'm not surfing today".
I've come to find out that this is a sea lion behavior called rafting. Sea lions raft when there is no available haulout site on which to rest (i.e. a dock). Rafting can also be useful for group foraging or even synchronized diving.
Sure it's just a raft of of sea lions, but a raft of sea lions has got to look pretty good to a shark. Man you are bold! But I'm glad that you lived to write a post :) Tell your mom happy mother's day for me.
Posted by: Ashley | May 08, 2005 at 03:46 PM