A harbour seal found itself in a precarious situation while trying to eat fish near Victoria this week.
On Thursday, a group of whale watchers spotted a humpback whale nicknamed “Zillion” feeding on a school of small bait fish just southwest of Victoria.
Zillion opened her jaws and lunged toward the surface hoping to get fish. Instead, she caught a harbour seal.
One of the tour members with Eagle Wing Tours had his camera ready and captured the incident.
Erin Gless, executive director of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, said the harbour seal was likely feeding on the same small fish and found itself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Gless said that humpback whales do not eat seals, but do eat small fish and krill.
Zillion repeatedly opened her jaw and lowered her head into the water trying to get the seal out.
“While they have very large mouths, their throats are roughly the size of a grapefruit, so they can’t swallow something as large as a seal,” Gless said.
People on the vessel can be heard asking if it’s a bird in the humpback whale’s mouth.
“We occasionally see humpback whales get small birds stuck in their mouths while feeding, but a seal was a huge surprise,” said Gless.
The seal was eventually able to swim away from the humpback.
