An incredible scene was caught on camera off the coast of Vancouver Island.
Tomis Filipovic, a naturalist and educator with Eagle Wing Tours, told Global News they were out with a group around William Head when they spotted a local humpback whale known as Zillion.
“I believe she’s around nine years old, brought a calf back last year, actually,” he said.
“So she’s come back this year alone, no calf. And we were just watching her, you know, swim around and in big circles.”
That’s when the boat’s captain noticed a bait ball forming, Filipovic added.
“So a bunch of smaller birds were lifting up these balls of herring up to the surface and the gulls were on top feeding on it,” he said.
“And Zillion took interest in it.”
As they repositioned their boat, Filipovic said that’s when they noticed a seal rolling around inside one of the bait balls.
He said they could see the seal’s nose and whiskers and it seemed to be enjoying itself, feasting on the herring.
“Zillion did (a) sideways lunge, really powerful sideways lunge, actually. And we started to notice that she came back up and she just kept opening and closing her mouth,” Filipovic said.
He joked that they’ve never seen humpbacks chew their food but fellow staff members pointed out they have seen humpbacks do this motion when birds get in their mouths from the bait balls and they need to let them escape.
A humpback whale’s throat is about the size of a grapefruit so they don’t swallow them.
“When I zoomed in on the photos after she kind of stopped, I saw the seal getting sloshed around in the mouth and eventually spilling out of the sides,” Filipovic said.
“So that seal, unfortunately, did not move out of the way in time, but he slid out. He ended up being OK. Zillion was totally OK and then she went off and started feeding again later.
“But I think that seal might think twice about feeding in a bait ball when humpbacks (are) around.”
Humpbacks usually feed on small herring and krill.
Filipovic said he was floored to see these photos.
“This was a photo I never knew was even an option,” he said.
“This isn’t even something I ever thought about happening, really, a once-in-a-lifetime capture.”