Lunge feeding humpback whale!

Fim, 03/07/2019 - 12:43

After a few days with no sightings of whales, it was refreshing to go out this morning to witness a humpback whale lunge feeding! elding.is/thursday-7-march-2019

"Lunge feeding could be regarded as a kind of inverted suction feeding, during which a whale takes a huge gulp of water, which is then filtered through the baleens. Biomechanically this is a unique and extreme feeding method, for which the animal at first must accelerate to gain enough momentum to fold its elastic throat (buccal cavity) around the volume of water to be swallowed. Subsequently, the water flows back through the baleens keeping back the food particles. The highly elastic and muscular buccal rills are a specialized adaptation to this feeding mode." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_feeding_mechanisms#Lunge_feeding