2 weeks Ago
A naturalist was left astounded after taking a once-in-a-lifetime photograph of a bewildered seal in the mouth of a humpback whale after the 40-ton marine mammal accidentally swallowed it. A Blue Kingdom and Wildlife Tours boat skippered by Captain Tyler McKeen spotted the humpback whale swimming toward a school of fish last Thursday in the waters off Anacortes, Washington. McKeen described how the , known locally as "Zimmer" was using the typical lunge feeding technique in his home in the , opening its mouth wide and swallowing small fish and water.
However, instead of diving to filter the fish as expected, Zimmer then remained on the surface opening and closing its mouth and eventually descending under the waves. It was then that McKeen and his passengers checked their footage and made the shock discovery. "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.
" The photograph taken by Blue Kingdom naturalist Brooke Casanova shows the seal, which was probably also hunting the fish, emerging from the bottom of the whale's mouth. McKeen also recorded a phone video showing the seal being flushed out by Zimmer. "I'm guessing that this situation probably happens every once in a while just because there's lots of other stuff that eat these fish too," McKeen said.
This extraordinary capture is by no means the first incident of marine mammals discovered to have swallowed unusual creatures. In October 2023 investigators released reports of a 258 pound in the after mysteriously swallowing six sea otters whole. Famously in June 2021 claimed to have been swallowed whole by a humpback off the coast of .
Packard describing the moment to reporters from the Cape Cod Times from his hospital bed where he was being treated for minor injuries, "All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black." Humpback whales visit the Salish Sea, the inland waters between and , during their migrations. Humpback whales were hunted to extinction in these waters, but over the last 25 years, their numbers have recovered to an estimated 396 in 2023 according to pacific Whale Watch Association.
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