Out on a whale watch today... with the entire family. I shot.... not sure, over 1200 images for whales alone. We saw 3 Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish), a Minke Whale, and 6 different Fin Whales. Oh yeah, and some 40 or so Humpbacks!
One of the coolest things, is seeing how these massive creatures feed. At the surface, it's called, Bubble Net Feeding. a large group dives deep. We saw anywhere from three to 12 do this today. Fira,t thew find a baiot ball. Sand Eels, Menhaden, some tiny fish. big batches, too... They dive deep, then, start in a tight circle, under then, blow bubbles in this circle. this frightens the fish, Acts like a net, and keeps the trapped inside the ring of bubbles, and, as the bubbles rise, so do the fish. All the way to the surface... meanwhile, the whales, down deep rise into the center of this ball of fish... and open their mouths as they hit the surface. the whales are pointing straight up.
Humpback Whales do not have teeth. They are part of a type of whale called Baleen Whales. they feed buy taking huge gulps of ocean,with large schools of tiny fish. Then, this hard stuff, called baleen, acts like a strainer, and catches the fish, and expels the water.
Baleen is hard. Usually, in strips about a foot, maybe foot and a half long (half meter). Its made from the same stuff as human hair and fingernails: Keratin.
Up they come, in a group, and catch fish...
In the pic above, you can see the pink tongue, and the grey stuff, hanging each side of the whale mouths is baleen hanging down. The whale on the left? see the lower jaw, filled with water, at the surface? there can be up to 200 pounds at a time of fish in there!
Anyway, these two images are merely the beginning. These were before the whales were close to the boat!
I love hearing naturalists talk. AND, working with the folks over at Center For Coastal Studies, in Provincetown, we used the books they keep on Humpback whales, to ID 12 of the whales we saw. It helps to track species movement, their offspring and their feeding habits.
Always, I strive to give back To the animals and birds around me to put more plants in than I take out And be a good steward for the world around me!
All Photos by Bluefin Studios.
!steemitworldmap 42.087571 lat -70.249021 long 2 Humpback Whales d3scr
