This Humpback Whale Can Swallow a Thousand Anchovies in One Gulp
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A massive mouth can hold a lot of fish and they don’t come more massive than a humpback whale’s! In this amazing clip, we get a close-up view of a whale eating what looks like an entire shoal of anchovies in one gulp. The fish have no idea what is happening as the huge sea creature emerges from below them, mouth wide open! Check out the extraordinary sight.
Where Do Humpback Whales Normally Live?
The scientific name for humpback whales is Megaptera novaeangliae and they are normally found in polar and tropical waters. You can spot them in the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific Oceans. However, they are also a resident species in some parts of the Bering Sea and the waters around the Antarctic. They are a migratory species that can be found in both deep and coastal waters. These whales are found in coastal waters off Long Island, New York, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The species is organized into several discrete populations – mingling between populations is very limited. The North Atlantic Ocean is home to two stocks and there are also two in the North Pacific. The southern hemisphere is home to seven isolated stocks.
What Do Humpback Whales Normally Eat?
Humpback whales are described as generalized and mobile feeders which means that they roam around the ocean eating anything suitable they come across! Their diet consists of plankton and fish.
Plankton are tiny organisms that live in water. Diatoms, protozoans, small crustaceans, eggs and larvae are all plankton. The name comes from the Greek word for ‘drifter’ and this perfectly sums up the life of plankton. Nearly all plankton are under an inch in length and some are microscopic. It’s crazy that such a large animal lives off the smallest creatures in the sea! An average humpback whale eats between 4,400 and 5,500 pounds of plankton, krill, and small fish every day in the feeding season.
When it comes to fish, they eat Atka mackerel, Pacific saury, and several other small fish species.
Humpback Whale Feeding Strategies
Humpbacks often feed by creating a ring of foam. They lie on the surface and swim in a circle striking the water with their flukes. This creates a circle of bubbles effectively trapping the fish in one place. With their prey unable to move, the whale dives under the ring and swims to the surface with their mouth wide open, just as you see in this clip. It is an ingenious method of hunting in the water and is highly effective!
