News Animals

Humpback whales use their flippers and bubble ‘nets’ to catch fish

New details show how the animals use their long flippers and a whirl of bubbles to hunt

humpback whale bubble net

A humpback whale will blow a “net” made of bubbles and then splash its flippers at the net’s weak parts to reinforce them before lunging to swallow the captured prey (illustrated in yellow), a study finds. The research was conducted under NOAA permits #14122 and #18529.

K. Kosma/Royal Society Open Science 2019

By Sofie Bates

- More than 2 years ago

Humpback whales need to eat a lot every day, and some even use their flippers to help snag a big mouthful of fish.