From August 27, here is the curious minke whale we saw that goes with the video I posted.
Today we had some great finback sightings in the morning
 |
| You can see the mouth is open, the black is the baleen |
This afternoon we saw a Mola mola, or ocean sunfish! This is only my 3rd sighting in 11 years and it was a great sighting today. Here is some info on the ocean sunfish
These bizarre looking fish, from the same family as pufferfish, average about 6 feet long and weigh 2200 lbs! The most obviously strange part is their shape, they look like a fish head without a tail. Through the course of evolution their caudal fin (tail) has disappeared and been replaced by a pseudo-fin called a clavus. Their diet consists mainly of jellyfish and to maintain their bulk they have to consume a very large amount. Ocean sunfish are covered in a slime instead of scales and they swim by a characteristic sculling motion of their dorsal and anal fins. They are the heaviest "bony" fish in the world, but its body is actually comprised of mostly cartilaginous tissues which is lighter than bone and can allow it to grow to such a large size which is uneconomical for other bony fishes.
And of course, some birds too.
 |
| Puffins anyone? |
I wanted to share some seal pictures from the past few days as well
 |
| Pre fight.... |
 |
| Post fight |
 |
| Harbour and a young grey seal |
 |
| Look who we saw!! |
Thanks so much for checking in today,
Cheers,
Danielle
More seals...Yay! Would it be the same red head, or are there more than one in the area. That sunfish is weird looking. Since there isn't many jellies around, it must be a little hungry. Thanks for the great shots.
ReplyDelete