Extraordinary footage has captured ‘hundreds’ of sharks during a feeding frenzy just metres from the shore of a popular island off the Queensland coast.Â
The swarm of sharks were seen chasing and feeding on a giant bait ball – a large group of schooling fish – in the shallows off Moreton Island this week.Â
An avid shark-watcher captured the incredible footage with a drone and shared the video on Instagram on Wednesday.Â
‘Have you ever seen this many sharks?’ he wrote.Â
‘Well, it’s a first for me, there’s hundreds and hundreds of sharks in this school of sardines.Â
‘Like I say, when there’s fish stay clear – here’s a good reason why.’Â
The large number of sharks was drawn close to shore at the holiday hotspot due to the giant bait balls, which swim in formation to try and confuse the predators.Â
Bait balls are common along the east coast in NSW and Queensland and can spark beach closures when they attract sharks to the shallows.Â
‘Hundreds’ of sharks were spotted in a feeding frenzy close to shore at Moreton Island, off the coast of Queensland
Bond University shark expert Dr Daryl McPhee explained the shiver – a term used for when sharks gather in a large group – was a sign of a healthy ecosystem.Â
‘Those are large schools of pilchards which have been moving up the coast and are a sign of a good, healthy ecosystem,’ he told 7NEWS.
‘It’s not surprising to see such a large group of sharks around a bait ball – and that was a very, very large school of bait fish so it’s not surprising there are a lot of sharks there.Â
‘It’s a simple equation. If you find the prey, you find the predators.’
Dr McPhee said a mixture of different whaler sharks were visible in the footage with the species present during a feeding frenzy always changing.Â
He said the remarkable natural phenomenon should only be observed from land.Â
Moreton Island is a national park off the coast of southeastern Queensland, about 40km northeast of Brisbane.Â
The national park is known for its beaches and steep dunes and is surrounded by the protected waters of the Moreton Bay Marine Park.  Â
The protected waters around Moreton Island (pictured) is home to a vast array of sea life including bull sharks, whaler sharks and hammerheads
It comes just two weeks after dozens of sharks were seen thrashing in ankle-deep water during a feeding frenzy at a popular surf break on the Gold Coast (pictured)
The waters are home to a vast array of sea life including bull sharks, whaler sharks and hammerheads.Â
It comes just two weeks after dozens of sharks were seen thrashing in ankle-deep water during a feeding frenzy at a popular surf break on the Gold Coast.
A swarm of sharks were seen at Snapper Rocks chasing and feeding on bait balls in the shallows on October 28. Â
Stunned locals were seen running down to the shore to watch the wild scenes.
Meanwhile, a shiver of sharks was also seen at Point Cartwright on the Sunshine Coast earlier this year in January. Â
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Shock as ‘hundreds and hundreds’ of sharks are spotted close to shore at Moreton Island, Queensland