It’s a good thing seals aren’t on the humpback whales’ menu.
A photograph by a whale-watching naturalist captured a seemingly bewildered seal in the mouth of a humpback whale after the giant marine mammal accidentally swallowed it last Thursday in the waters off Anacortes, Washington.
The feeding confusion began when a Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours boat spotted birds flying over a school of fish and a humpback whale swimming toward it, Capt. Tyler McKeen said. He said the humpback then used a lunge feeding technique, where the whale opens its mouth wide and takes in small fish and water. But instead of staying underwater afterward to filter through its baleen, it surfaced and began opening and closing its mouth. After the whale submerged again, whale watchers reviewed photographs and video.
“It only took a couple of seconds for everyone to get their frames out and zoom in,” McKeen said. “That’s when we saw the seal. It was a really fun moment for everyone. I mean, it probably wasn’t that fun for the seal.”
A photograph by Brooke Casanova shows the seal, which was presumably also hunting the fish, emerging from the bottom of the whale’s mouth. McKeen recorded a video with her phone of the seal being ejected.
“I’m guessing this situation probably happens from time to time, simply because there are so many other things that these fish eat as well,” McKeen said.
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 in these waters, but over the past 25 years, their numbers have rebounded and they are now routinely seen on whale-watching tours, McKeen said.
He added that the whale that accidentally swallowed the seal is known as “Zillion.”
(This story is not edited by Republic and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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