A Monterey Bay photographer on Saturday shared images showing a sea lion perched on the belly of a humpback whale. It was an unplanned ride for the pinniped, which had been feeding on the same school of anchovies the whale had been lunging after.
Yee, who captured the images in 2020, re-shared them after they popped up as a Facebook memory. “One of the weirdest moments I’ve ever experienced at sea,” he recalled.
Yee was working as naturalist for Blue Ocean Whale Watch out of Moss Landing, aboard the High Spirits, when the bizarre interaction occurred.
He told FTW Outdoors that he was unaware of the presence of the sea lion until after the trip.
Kate Cummings, High Spirits captain, asked Yee to inspect his images because she had spotted the sea lion “tumbling down the length of the whale,” she said.
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Cummings posted the images to Facebook with the description:
“Today our naturalist Eric Austin Yee caught the hilarious moment when a humpback whale launched out of the water lunge-feeding for anchovies and took an unsuspecting California sea lion for a ride!
“We commonly see humpback whales and sea lions feeding together on anchovies – but the sea lions have to be alert and get out of the whales’ way! This whale was too quick!”
In an interview, Cummings said, “Apparently I was laughing so loud that the captain on the other boat could hear me. It was funny because you could tell the sea lion was fine, albeit completely surprised.”
Humpback whales can catch thousands of anchovies in one gulp. Sea lions and birds – always nearby – must exercise caution as they attempt to participate in the feast.