A Drone Stumbled Upon One of Earth's Rarest Fish Leading a Mysterious Ocean Parade

A Ghost in the Shallows

Just 200 meters off the coast of Shark Bay, Western Australia, a drone captured a slow-moving shadow gliding through clear, shallow water. It was a whitespotted wedgefish — a critically endangered species — and the footage marked one of the rarest sightings in recent years. The videographer behind the lens had no idea what he was looking at. Not at first.

Back in 2024, wildlife videographer Jake Mason, founder of Return To The Ocean, was flying his drone in Shark Bay, Western Australia, when he came across the unlikely entourage. At first, he said in an Instagram post sharing the footage, "I didn't know what I was looking at." When the picture came into focus, Mason realized he was witnessing something extraordinary — an ancient, elusive creature that most marine scientists never get to see alive in the wild.

The Strangest Parade in the Ocean

For 10 surreal minutes, the massive fish led a procession of trevally, cobia, and sharksuckers through the lagoon — a silent parade filmed entirely from above. Mason flew his drone over the curious collection of creatures for around 10 minutes, and at each turn, the fish followed the leader "move for move." The synchronized spectacle was almost choreographed in its precision.

"The highlight is the giant critically endangered whitespotted wedgefish leading the pack," said Mason. "This is quite possibly the coolest thing I've seen while flying my drone in search of wildlife," he added. For a videographer who has spent years searching Australian waters for remarkable encounters, that's saying something.

Wedgefish look like a mashup between sharks and rays, and their unique silhouette makes them easy to spot — if they're there to spot at all. The fish in the footage was suggested to be a whitespotted wedgefish, although it is notoriously difficult to tell the difference between wedgefish species.

Among the Most Threatened Animals on Earth

Of the 11 known wedgefish species, 10 are listed as critically endangered. This group of fishes is now considered among the most threatened marine families on Earth, according to a sweeping analysis published in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. Their numbers have collapsed so dramatically that encountering one in the wild — let alone on camera — is a genuine rarity.

Wedgefish are hunted intensely for their meat and, more lucratively, their large fins. These fins fetch sky-high prices in the global shark fin trade — up to $964 per kilogram in some markets. Their pale color and size make them especially prized, and this commercial pressure has devastated populations across Southeast Asia and the Arabian Gulf. Some species, such as the clown wedgefish and the false shark ray, may already be functionally extinct.

Australia as a Last Refuge

Australia has emerged as a final refuge for several wedgefish species. Compared to other parts of the Indo-Pacific, fishing pressure there is relatively low, and key populations benefit from protected zones. Still, their habitats remain dangerously accessible. The shallow, sandy lagoons they favor often overlap with recreational fishing areas and coastal tourism.

Even in conservation hotspots like Shark Bay, their future is far from secure. The Shark Bay drone footage, striking as it was, may be the only glimpse many people ever get of a living wedgefish. That makes Mason's accidental ten minutes of footage something far more significant than a viral wildlife clip — it's a document of a species on the edge. Whether the wedgefish survives the next decade will depend less on lucky drone sightings and more on the international will to rein in the fin trade that is quietly erasing them from the ocean.