While whale watching we saw one of the most amazing example of collaborative feeding by sea mammals called bubble net feeding. A group of whales up to 30 in size work together to capture herring. It occurs when the concentration of herring in an area is high. It is believed that one whale dives down and starts forming a circular net made of bubbles while another whale produces a feeding call that the school of herring will swim away from. The 2 whales are positioned in such a way that the school of small fish swim right into the area being surrounded by bubbles. Once the herrings are in place the whales do a mass lunging to the surface where they filter out thousands of gallons of sea water through their brush like teeth called “baleen” keeping a mouthful of food. The bubble net feeding behavior was first described in the 1980’s and it is still not completely understood. We were very fortunate to see such an event.
