SEATTLE — It’s a good thing seals aren’t on the menu for humpback whales.
A photo taken by a whale watcher and naturalist captures a confused seal in the mouth of a humpback whale after it was accidentally swallowed by the giant marine mammal last Thursday in waters near Anacortes, Washington.
The feeding disturbance began when the 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 whale then used a lunging feeding technique, in which the whale opens its mouth wide and takes in small fish and water.
But then, instead of staying underwater to filter out her fish, she came to the surface and began opening and closing her mouth.
After the whales went back into the water, the photographs and video were examined by whale watchers.
“It just took a few seconds for everybody to pull up the frame and zoom in,” McCune said. “That's when we saw the seal. It was a funny, funny moment for everybody. I mean, it probably wasn't as funny for the seal.”
The photo, taken by Brooke Casanova, shows the seal emerging from beneath the whale's mouth, which was likely hunting fish.
McKeon recorded a video on his phone of the seal being pulled out.
“My guess is that this situation probably only occurs occasionally, because many other organisms also feed on these fish,” McKeon said.
Humpback whales visit the Salish Sea, the inland waters between British Columbia and Washington state during their migration.
Humpback whales were hunted in these waters, causing them to become locally extinct, but their numbers have increased over the past 25 years and they are now regularly seen on whale-watching tours, McKeon said.
He said the whale that accidentally swallowed the seal was known as “Zillion.”
