Seals can count themselves lucky that they aren’t on the menu for humpback whales.
A stunning photograph by whale-watching naturalist captured a perplexed seal inside the mouth of a humpback whale after the giant marine mammal unintentionally swallowed it last Thursday in the waters off Anacortes, Washington.
The peculiar incident began when a Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours boat noticed a flock of birds hovering over a school of fish, with a humpback whale swimming directly toward the commotion. Captain Tyler McKeen explained that the whale engaged in a lunging feeding technique, opening its mouth wide to engulf small fish and water. Instead of staying underwater to filter its catch through its baleen, the whale resurfaced, repeatedly opening and closing its mouth.
When the whale finally submerged again, whale watchers quickly examined their photographs and videos.
“It only took a couple seconds for everybody to pull up the frames and zoom in,” McKeen recounted. “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.”
Captured by Brooke Casanova, a photograph showed the seal — likely hunting the same fish — peeking out from the bottom of the whale’s mouth. Meanwhile, McKeen managed to record a video on his phone showing the seal being flushed out.
“I’m guessing this situation probably happens now and then just because there’s lots of other creatures hunting these fish too,” McKeen speculated.
Humpback whales frequent the Salish Sea, the inland waters between British Columbia and Washington state, during their migrations. Although these majestic creatures were once hunted to near extinction in these waters, over the past 25 years they have made an impressive recovery, becoming a regular sight on whale-watching tours, McKeen noted.
He added that the whale that inadvertently gulped the seal is known as “Zillion.”
