REX, PHOTOF
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeanglia) lunging during cooperative feeding using a bubble net, the Morris Reef, Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.
This was the same cooperative bubble net feeding group of 5 whales that frequented the Morris Reef and I had many close encounters with. This photo clearly illustrates the structure and function of the baleen plates hanging from the roof of the whales’ mouth; they are smooth on the outside and frayed and bristly on the inside, thus creating a dense mat of coarse hairs to prevent any prey from escaping. The clearly defined palette in the roof of the mouth is also visible as is the common, distinctive pink “moustache” marking on the snout.
