Spit that out!
Captain Tyler McKeen and crew of the Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours boat spotted birds flying over a school of fish in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Thursday. Experienced sailors know that the birds can see large numbers of fish being chased toward the surface of the water and the birds circle waiting for lunch. Humpback whales individually or in pods will try to herd small fish into a confined area by swimming around them and then one by one come roaring up from underneath with their mouth open to strain out as many little fish as they can. Most times at least the head of the Humpback whale breaks the surface. Sometimes the whale can get much more of their body openmouthed into the air before crashing back to the ocean with a gigantic splash and mouth full of fish as the water drains from their jaws. This dinner plan has worked for thousands of years, mostly. Sometimes, there is a wrinkle. In the picture here this whale had her mouth open and caught a seal (100+ pounds) in addition to the hundreds of little fish.
It’s likely the harbor seal was also feeding on the fish in the area and just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Humpback whales do not eat seals. These whales have small throats, despite how large their mouths are, and therefore wouldn’t be able to swallow anything as large as a seal, This time instead of settling down to munch on her lunch, she resurfaced trying to spit out this massive surprise, the seal. She began opening and closing its mouth. The whale watchers on his ship checked their photographs and videos. “It only took a couple seconds for everybody to pull up the frames and zoom in,” McKeen said. “That’s when we saw the seal. It was a funny, funny moment for everybody. I mean, it probably wasn’t that funny for the seal.” “I’m guessing that this situation probably happens every once in a while just because there’s lots of other stuff that eat these fish too,” McKeen said. In fact, quip4today.com has provided stories of divers and snorkelers being on top of the fish tornado and getting caught in the whale jaws.
Humpback whales visit the Salish Sea, the inland waters between British Columbia and Washington state, during their migrations. Humpback whales were hunted to local extinction but now their numbers have recovered and are now routinely seen in whale-watching tours, McKeen said. He added that the whale that accidentally gulped the seal is known as “Big Mama” because she has been seen with seven different calves over the years. The humpback whale was given its name because of the shape of the hump on its dorsal fin and the distinctive look of its back when diving. Its scientific name, Megaptera, means, “large-winged,” referring to its long, white, wing-like flippers that are often as long as one-third of the animal’s total body length. Humpbacks found in the Northern Hemisphere reach an average length of 51 feet. Females are generally larger than males, with the average weight for a mature adult being 50,000 to 80,000 pounds. Humpbacks are among the most endangered whales with fewer than 10 percent of their original population remaining. The main threats they face in the ocean are ship strikes and entanglement in ocean trash and fishing gear.
Whale tales
/Remember the whale: When it’s spouting off, is when it’s in the most danger of being harpooned.
A whale swims all day, only consumes fish and water, and is fat. A rabbit only eats vegetables, runs and hops all day long, and only lives 5 years. Meanwhile a tortoise doesn’t run and does nothing energetic, yet it lives for 450 years. And you tell me to eat well and exercise!
I went to a Save the Whales themed costume party as a whale and got chatting to someone dressed as a dolphin. We just clicked.
What’s with the sudden influx of Killer Whale attacks on boats?
Seems Orcastrated.
September 19th Birthdays
/1933 – David McCallum, 1948 – Jeremy Irons, 1980 – John Paul Green, 1969 – Michael Symon
1941 – Cass Elliott, 1986 – Song jum-ki, 1965 – Sunita Williams, 1949 – Twiggy