A Southern California photographer has captured rare images showing a young elephant seal devouring a venomous sculpin and seeming to react in a “What did I just eat?” manner.
“The look of instant regret?” Delaney Trowbridge asked on Facebook.
Her images, captured May 24 during a whale-watching trip out of Newport Beach, show the seal surfacing with the sculpin about 40 feet from the Newport Coastal Adventure vessel.
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“We immediately noticed the bright orange sculpin and amazingly, he didn’t mind us watching him eat,” Trowbridge told For The Win Outdoors. “Normally they just dip out at the first sight of a boat so it was really special to see such a thing up close.”
Sculpin are popular among anglers because of their delectable flesh, but spines on their fins hold venom that can cause severe pain if they pierce the skin. The fish are to be handled with extreme care.
While seals might occasionally prey on sculpin, the opportunity to document the seemingly precarious event – and cleverly describe it on Facebook – rarely presents itself.
Trowbridge wrote:
“Have you ever taken a bite of a pepper you thought you could handle only to experience immeasurable regret? Well, that’s likely the experience this juvenile Elephant Seal is having!
“California Scorpionfish, more commonly called “Sculpin,” are the most venomous members of their family found in the state. The sharp spines of the fish contain a venom said to cause pain similar in nature to a rattlesnake bite.
“Who knows if this youngster simply had a taste for spice or if he quickly regretted his new culinary explorations?”
Trowbridge said the elephant seal stayed at the surface for several minutes before swallowing the sculpin, and the last image in her series portrays a pinniped that’s likely to pursue milder-tasting prey in the days to come.
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