Humpback Whale and Bubble Feeding

Picture a dozen humpback whales synchronized swimming. Imagine them all rising to the surface at the same time, mouths agape, feeding on small fish. This is ‘bubble feeding’.

Humpback whales of the Pacific spend the winter months breeding in waters near Hawaii and return 2,500 miles each summer to feed in southeast Alaska. Full-grown Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) weigh an average of 80,000 pounds and reach up to 50 feet long. Their mouths open 15 feet across, but they can only fit small prey down their narrow esophagus. Humpbacks have baleen, or strainers, in their mouths so they can only eat small fish and krill, which are abundant in Alaska waters in the summer due to the long days and plentiful nutrients in the water.

With bubble feeding, a pod of whales find a school of fish and swim in a circle around 45 feet below the ocean surface releasing bubbles to confuse the fish and bunch them closer and closer together. The fish are normally used to the rhythmic beat of the tails of their school mates, and bubbles represent something threatening and chaotic. Working together, carefully coordinating their maneuvers, the whales tighten this net of bubbles. Then, in a highly synchronized act, the whole pod will lunge to the surface through the center of the net with their jaws agape.