Rare photo captures live seal in humpback whale’s mouth after it was accidentally gulped
The seal was flushed out after being scooped up by the giant mammal, who was lunging to feed on a school of fish
It’s a good thing seals aren’t on a humpback whale’s 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 gulped it last Thursday in the waters off Anacortes, Washington.
The food mix-up began while a Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours boat spotted birds flying over a school of fish and a humpback whale swimming toward it, Captain Tyler McKeen said.
He said the humpback then used a lunging feeding technique, where the whale opens its mouth wide and takes in small fish and water. But instead of remaining underwater afterward to filter through its baleen, it surfaced and began opening and closing its mouth.
After the whale went back underwater, photographs and videos were checked by whale watchers.
“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.”
