Bubble-net feeding

Photo of several whales each with only its head visible above the surface
A group of 15 whales bubble net fishing near Juneau, Alaska
Whale bubble net feeding in Alaska.

Bubble-net feeding is a feeding behavior engaged in by humpback whales[1] and Bryde's whales.[2] It is one of the few surface feeding behaviors that humpback whales are known to engage in.[3] This type of feeding can be done alone or in groups with as many as twenty whales participating at once.[4] Whales can also perform a similar method of surface feeding called "lunge feeding".[3][4]

Humpback whales are migratory and only eat during half of the year.[5] During this feeding season humpback whales actively feed for up to twenty-two hours a day.[4] They do this so they can store enough fat reserves to live through their breeding season when they do not eat at all.[4] Humpback whales typically spend summer months in feeding grounds with cooler waters that they return to every year.[5] They have been documented feeding in areas such as Southeast Alaska and off the coast of Antarctica.[5]

  1. ^ Friedlaender, Ari; Bocconcelli, Alessandro; Wiley, David; Cholewiak, Danielle; Ware, Colin; Weinrich, Mason; Thompson, Michael (2011). "Underwater components of humpback whale bubble-net feeding behaviour". Behaviour. 148 (5–6): 575–602. doi:10.1163/000579511x570893.
  2. ^ "Bryde's Whale". NOAA Fisheries. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Humpback Feeding Behaviour". www.forwhales.org. Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d Hain, JHW; Carter, GD; Kraus, SD; Mayo, CA; Winn, HE (1982). "Feeding behavior of the humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, in the western North Atlantic". Fishery Bulletin. 80: 259–268.
  5. ^ a b c Kieckhefer, Thomas R. (1992). Feeding ecology of humpback whales in continental shelf waters near Cordell Bank, California (Master's).