Seven humpback whales blowing bubbles in an epic heat run in Tonga

This was a heat run of seven humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae), with a female that was predominantly black in colouration. These seven were clearly engrossed in their heat run activities, but they approached people in the water quite often, with the female coming up to display only a few metres away from me. In this scene, the seven whales have just realised that a group of three whales was approaching in the distance. All the whales took off in an instant, swimming at high speed and blowing curtains of bubbles to punctuate their mad dash. Note the severe injuries to the pectoral fin of the second whale in the row.

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Filename: seven-humpback-whales-blowing-bubbles-in-a-heat-run-201008-5431.tif
Copyright: Tony Wu. All rights reserved. No duplication without prior written permission
Image Size: 5584x3723 / 59.5MB; https://www.photoshelter.com/support/license#rm; https://www.tony-wu.com/contact-tony-wu; South Pacific Tonga Vava'u Humpback Whale Animalia Chordata Mammalia Cetartiodactyla Eutheria Cetacea Mysticeti Balaenopteridae Marine Mammal Baleen Whale Rorqual Mysticete Megaptera novaeangliae Endangered: IUCN Red List CITES Appendix 1 Filter Feeder Heat Run Injury Bubbles
Contained in galleries: Humpback Whales Underwater, Marine Life Reproduction

This was a heat run of seven humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae), with a female that was predominantly black in colouration. These seven were clearly engrossed in their heat run activities, but they approached people in the water quite often, with the female coming up to display only a few metres away from me. In this scene, the seven whales have just realised that a group of three whales was approaching in the distance. All the whales took off in an instant, swimming at high speed and blowing curtains of bubbles to punctuate their mad dash. Note the severe injuries to the pectoral fin of the second whale in the row.