Today we were treated to 2 adult humpback whales trap feeding in the Salish Sea near Lantzville.

Trap feeding is a smart feeding technique used by some Humpbacks. Many small fish have lots of predators, and this includes birds. Fish often hide under floating debris or other objects on the water, seeking cover from arial predators. When Humpbacks trap feed they use this hiding behaviour of fish to their advantage. They swim incredibly slowly near the surface of the water with their mouths open. This provides a nice, dark hiding spot from birds above for unsuspecting fish. The small fish gather in large numbers in the Humpbacks mouth, without realizing what they are doing, and when their mouth is full, the Humpback closes up, filters the fish with their baleen and swallows their prize.

Some Humpbacks take this feeding method up a notch, using their beautiful pec fins to help guid fish to their mouths. Some humpback have very white undersides on their pec fins, and when trap feeding some whales will hold their fins out to form a funnel. The will rotate their pec fins, reflecting sunlight off their fins to blind and startle the fish, which follow the edge of the pec fins right into the open waiting mouth.

The 2 whales we saw today were Chinook and Honu. It appeared as though was teaching Chinook how to do this feeding technique, as Chinook watched Honu feed a few times before attempting it themselves. Humpbacks are highly intelligent animals and highly social. It’s not uncommon to find adults traveling with juveniles and teaching them some tricks they may not have had time to learn from mom, or may not have been ready to learn from mom.

Check out the cool photos our Marine Naturalist Cheyenne Brewster got during the tour.

September 18th - Chinook and Honu trap feeding!

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