Eight Humpback Whales Lunge Feeding in Monterey Bay

Our morning departure aboard Sanctuary encountered a highly active feeding group of eight humpback whales in the bay. Despite a light chop on the water, we easily located the whales by the massive gathering of approximately two hundred California sea lions sharing the bait ball.

The most compelling behavior today was the frequent vertical lunge-feeding. This energetic foraging strategy occurs when humpbacks accelerate upward through a dense school of small schooling fish, breaking the surface with their pleats expanded to engulf massive quantities of food and water before filtering it through their baleen.

Operating in close coordination with the sea lions, the whales repeatedly lunged vertically, providing us with clear views of their rostrum and ventral pleats. Seeing these two species exploit the same food source so efficiently is a testament to the productivity of the Monterey Canyon's nutrient-rich waters during the summer feeding season.