ANACORTES, Wash. — A humpback whale in Washington had a surprise during feeding time earlier this week.
In the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Thursday, a group with Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours from Anacortes was watching “Zillion,” a humpback whale.
As the female whale was feeding on a school of small bait fish, she opened up for a mouthful of food when a harbor seal got swept up into her jaws as she rose to the water's surface.
Pacific Whale Watch Association Executive Director Erin Gless said it’s likely the harbor seal was also feeding on the fish in the area and just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Once realizing something was amiss with her meal, Zillion opened her mouth in the water several times and allowed the seal to make a getaway, she said.
Gless said humpback whales do not eat seals, and only feed on small fish or krill. These whales have small throats, despite how large their mouths are, and therefore wouldn’t be able to swallow anything as large as a seal, Gless said.
Brooke Casanova with Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours captured the picture-perfect moment of the unsuspecting seal caught up in the whale’s mouth.
If you look closely at the image, you'll see the small gray head and black eyes of a harbor seal sloshing into the whale's mouth. Quite the surprise for both animals involved.
