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  • This is the primary or dominant escort in a humpback whale competitive group, also known as a heat run. Male whales are competing for the female whale, which is the one with a long white slash mark on her torso, and a smaller one closer to her face. This behavior of blowing a massive trail of bubbles requires a substantial supply of air. The respiratory and digestive tracts of most animals, including humpback whales, are not connected. It is therefore not clear how humpback whales execute this behavior. After observing this heat run for an extended period of time, I was able to watch the entire sequence from beginning to end three times, and thus to confirm that the dominant whale did not gulp air at the surface. It inflated its throat pouch with air when it was submerged. This suggests that there is a mechanism by which a humpback whale can temporarily connect its respiratory tract to its digestive tract, thus shunting air from its lungs to its throat. This sequence thus provides photographic support for just such an anatomical link, as first proposed in a 2007 paper in The Anatomical Record by Reidenberg and Laitman.
    humpback-whale-bubble-blowing-sequen...tif
  • This is the primary or dominant escort in a humpback whale competitive group, also known as a heat run. Male whales are competing for the female whale, which is the one with a long white slash mark on her torso, and a smaller one closer to her face. This behavior of blowing a massive trail of bubbles requires a substantial supply of air. The respiratory and digestive tracts of most animals, including humpback whales, are not connected. It is therefore not clear how humpback whales execute this behavior. After observing this heat run for an extended period of time, I was able to watch the entire sequence from beginning to end three times, and thus to confirm that the dominant whale did not gulp air at the surface. It inflated its throat pouch with air when it was submerged. This suggests that there is a mechanism by which a humpback whale can temporarily connect its respiratory tract to its digestive tract, thus shunting air from its lungs to its throat. This sequence thus provides photographic support for just such an anatomical link, as first proposed in a 2007 paper in The Anatomical Record by Reidenberg and Laitman.
    humpback-whale-bubble-blowing-sequen...tif
  • Male humpback whale calf (Megaptera novaeangliae) emerging from beneath the protective cover of his mother’s pectoral fin, just before surfacing to breathe.
    humpback-whale-calf-emerging-from-be...tif
  • Mature male Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) in Palau
    male-napoleon-wrasse-cheilinus-undul...tif
  • Female humpback whale calf (Megaptera novaeangliae) playing at the ocean surface. The young whale’s developing mammary slits are clearly visible.
    female-humpback-whale-calf-playing-t...tif
  • Close-up view of an adult female humpback whale’s fluke at the ocean surface, with acorn barnacles (Coronula diadema) and whale lice (Cyamis boopis) visible.
    humpback-whale-fluke-surface-close-u...tif
  • Female humpback whale calf (Megaptera novaeangliae) nursing from her mother, with escort partially visible in the background. The calf, her mother, and the escort were all quite white. I nicknamed the calf Snow White.
    humpback-whale-female-calf-nursing-t...tif
  • Male humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) spyhopping and twirling around with his pectoral fin.
    humpback-whale-spyhop-pectoral-fin-t...tif
  • A playful male humpback whale calf (Megaptera novaeangliae) with his mouth open and a stream of bubbles coming out of his blowholes. This calf was highly interactive and inquisitive. I nicknamed him Rambo.
    humpback-whale-calf-mouth-open-bubbl...tif
  • Male humpback whale that was accompanying a female with calf. This whale seemed to be singing, but upon comparison of recordings of the sounds this whale was making with recordings of the seasonal song sung by other whales in the same area, it became clear that this whale was not singing the song. It is not clear what the purpose of the sounds made by this whale was. The whale vocalized for at least 40 minutes. When the female and calf commenced playing, this whale stopped vocalizing.
    humpback-whale-singer-shallow-water-...tif
  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) female with her male calf, swimming over a shallow coral reef outside Hunga island in Vava’u, Tonga.
    humpback-whale-female-with-calf-shal...tif
  • Friendly female humpback whale calf (Megaptera novaeangliae) that was with her mother and an escort.
    humpback-whale-calf-female-tonga-201...tif
  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) male calf breaching in choppy seas and overcast conditions. Photographed in Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga.
    humpback-whale-calf-breaching-stormy...tif
  • A pair of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) males cruising over a shallow coral reef on a sunny day.
    humpback-whale-pair-shallow-coral-re...tif
  • Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) spawning in Palau. The smaller female is in front, the male behind. Mature males spawn repeatedly with multiple females. This is photograph 2 of in a sequence of 5 images, with the entire sequence taking less than one second.
    napoleon-wrasse-spawning-cheilinus-u...tif
  • Top-down view of a mature male Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) cruising over healthy coral reef
    male-napoleon-wrasse-cheilinus-undul...tif
  • This jellyfish lives in the world-famous Jellyfish Lake in Palau’s Rock Islands. Descended from Mastigias papua jellyfish that live in the open ocean, this individual and others in the lake have lost most of their stinging capability. Within the confines of a small landlocked lake, there is minimal prey. Instead of hunting for food, these jellyfish host colonies of symbiotic algae, which produce food through photosynthesis. The jellyfish obtains sustenance from the algae. There are actually a number of lakes hosting such populations of stingless jellyfish in Palau, but only one is open to the general public.
    jellyfish-lake-palau-mastigias-papua...tif
  • Mature sperm whale bull (Physeter macrocephalus) in the foreground with adult females visible in the background. This male was 15-16m in length. Though he approached females in the vicinity continually and persistently, the females did not exhibit interest. On this one occasion, he was associated with seven females, six of which are visible here, though the females left him shortly after this photograph was taken. Note the parallel scars on the male’s head, indiciative of encounters with other mature males.
    sperm-whale-mature-bull-with-females...tif
  • Male humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) with white pectoral fins blowing a dramatic trail of bubbles during a frenetic competitive group heat run. This male was one of the two lead escorts in pursuit of the female that was the center of attention of this heat run. The abundance of scratches and scars on this male’s body bears testimony to his vigor and aggression.
    humpback-whale-white-pectoral-fins-b...tif
  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliea) singer in clear and relatively shallow water in Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga.
    humpback-whale-singer-shallow-water-...tif
  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) female that had the habit of resting in this upside-down position with her fluke at the surface. This adult female was the mother of energetic female calf 201404.
    humpback-whale-female-resting-fluke-...tif
  • Clouds of sperm and eggs released by thousands of bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) engaged in mass spawning in the early morning. Simultaneous release of gametes in such large quantities likely serves to maximize chances of survival for fertilized eggs. Group spawning also obscures visibility underwater, creating hazy, fog-like conditions. Photographed in the early morning in Palau.
    bumphead-parrotfish-spawning-aggrega...tif
  • Massive spawning aggregation of bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) in the early morning, involving thousands of individuals. During a short span of time, the fish coordinate release of large quantities of sperm and eggs into the water, creating fog-like white-out conditions.
    bumphead-parrotfish-spawning-aggrega...tif
  • A group of bigeye trevally (Caranx sexfasciatus) swimming around a grey reef shark (Carcharhinus amblyrynchos), with one of the fish rubbing its body against the shark's skin. Bigeye trevallies and other species of fish engage in this activity from time to time, perhaps to remove parasites or other irritations from their skin. For the most part, the sharks do not seem to mind, though they sometimes take off at high speed. Note also that one of the bigeye trevallies is dark. The change in coloration is associated with reproduction. Photographed at Blue Corner in Palau.
    bigeye-trevally-rubbing-against-grey...tif
  • Female humpback whale calf playing at the ocean surface while her mother rests below. On this day, the adult always maintained this vertical position while resting. When I came across this same mother and calf pair eleven days later, the adult no longer seemed to prefer this upright pose, but instead rested in the more common horizontal position.
    humpback-whale-female-with-calf-2017...tif
  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) courtship pair, female twirling in the foreground, male in the background.
    humpback-whale-male-and-female-court...tif
  • Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) spawning in Palau. The smaller female is in front, the male behind. Mature males spawn repeatedly with multiple females. This is photograph 5 of in a sequence of 5 images, with the entire sequence taking less than one second.
    napoleon-wrasse-spawning-cheilinus-u...tif
  • Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) spawning in Palau. The smaller female is in front, the male behind. Mature males spawn repeatedly with multiple females. This is photograph 4 of in a sequence of 5 images, with the entire sequence taking less than one second.
    napoleon-wrasse-spawning-cheilinus-u...tif
  • Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) spawning in Palau. The smaller female is in front, the male behind. Mature males spawn repeatedly with multiple females. This is photograph 3 of in a sequence of 5 images, with the entire sequence taking less than one second.
    napoleon-wrasse-spawning-cheilinus-u...tif
  • Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) spawning in Palau. The smaller female is in front, the male behind. Mature males spawn repeatedly with multiple females. This is photograph 1 of in a sequence of 5 images, with the entire sequence taking less than one second.
    napoleon-wrasse-spawning-cheilinus-u...tif
  • Rear view of a mature male Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus)
    male-napoleon-wrasse-rear-view-cheil...tif
  • This is the female humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) that was the center of an extended, energetic competitive group heat run. There were two large males that were the main contenders, including one particularly aggressive male that had white pectoral fins, and a number of other males that cycled in and out of the intense activity. The barnacles on the female humpback’s pectoral fin are clearly visible.
    humpback-whale-female-pectoral-fin-b...tif
  • Friendly female humpback whale calf (Megaptera novaeangliae) 201404, whose mother had the habit of resting upside-down with her fluke at the ocean surface.
    friendly-humpback-whale-calf-female-...tif
  • Nine humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) of ten that were engaged in a competitive group heat run centered around the dark female in the foreground of this photograph.
    nine-humpback-whales-competitive-gro...tif
  • Profile of a pinktail triggerfish (Melichthys vidua) photographed in Palau
    pinktail-triggerfish-melichthys-vidu...tif
  • A male humpback whale calf playing while his mother swims ahead.
    humpback-whale-calf-playing-mother-i...tif
  • Male humpback whale calf (Megaptera novaeangliae) playing while traveling with his mother.
    humpback-whale-female-and-male-calf-...tif
  • The chaotic action of a bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) spawning aggregation, comprising thousands of fish releasing clouds of sperm and eggs into the water. As depicted here, groups of spawning fish, led by one or possibly more females, rise up from the primary mass of fish to release their gametes, and then rejoin the swarm below. Photographed in the early morning in the Republic of Palau.
    bumphead-parrotfish-spawning-aggrega...tif
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