2010 06-30 SB Channel

Delphinus capensis, the Common Dolphin, races across a mirror glass ocean surface.

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Several Common Dolphins (Delphinus capensis) put on a show for the whalers on board the Condor Express.

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Part of a wide spread herd of Common Dolphins (Delphinus capensis).

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Three Common Dolphins (Delphinus capensis) slice across the mirror.

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Two Common Dolphins (Delphinus capensis).

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One leaping Common Dolphin (Delphinus capensis).

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A Royal Tern circles over a large patch of Krill.

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Image 1 of 2: With its mouth wide open, surrounded by red colored Krill, a Humpback Whale takes a mouthful. The pink palate and tan baleen can be seen inside the upper jaw. This is a wide angle view of the next image which shows the action close up. The second photo in the series follows with both wide-angle and close-up versions as well.

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Close up view of the previous image....With its mouth wide open, surrounded by red colored Krill, a Humpback Whale takes a mouthful. The pink palate and tan baleen can be seen inside the upper jaw.

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Image 2 of 2: the wide angle view of the second photo in the lunge feeding sequence. A closer view is shown in the next image.

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Close up view of Humpback and Krill, image 2 in the series.

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A Humpback lunges forward, away from the camera. Krill can be seen caught in the baleen, and in a large red patch floating in the upper right.

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A close look at the inside of a Humpback Whale's mouth showing the pink palate and numerous rows baleen. The ventral grooves that begin here at the lower jaw and run posteriorly to the navel, are also show.

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A close look at the ventral grooves under the chin, with both sessile and stalked barnacles. Krill can be seen all around, especially in the water pouring out of the mouth.

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More expanded ventral grooves.

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Krill everywhere...and those are merely the survivors!

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Sooty Shearwaters (Puffinus griseus) are seen resting on glassy water in the middle of the Santa Barbara Channel.

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The car carrying vessel "Morning Cedar" is seen westbound in the Santa Barbara Channel having departed Port Hueneme.

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A female Elephant Seal (Mirounga angustirostris) takes a nap in the middle of the Santa Barbara Channel...an easy hors d'oeuvre for any Orcinus orca that may happen to pass by [NOTE: no Orcas were seen].

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Signature tail flukes of a Humpback Whale.

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An ocean red with Krill surrounds a lunge feeding Humpback. The baleen appears to be coated with krill.

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A look inside the lower jaw of a greatly expanded Humpback Whale mouth. The very tip of the upper jaw and its baleen can be seen to the right.

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For all you baleen lovers out there.

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The ventral grooves and expanded oral pouch can be seen in this "chin" shot. Also visible are the stalked barnacles (Conchoderma sp) which attach to sessile, acorn barnacles (Coronula sp) on the Humpback Whale's skin. For an interesting account of these epizoic species, see Felix, F. EPIZOIC BARNACLES REMOVED FROM THE SKIN OF A HUMPBACK WHALE AFTER A PERIOD OF INTENSE
SURFACE ACTIVITY, MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, 22(4): 979–984 (October 2006).

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A peek down inside the lower mouth cavity.

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Image 1 of 2: Lower jaw straight up in the air.

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Image 2 of 2: Lower jaw straight up in the air.

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A sideways lunge.

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Image 1 of 2: Who can question that these leviathans are among the largest carnivores on the planet?

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Image 2 of 2: taken a second or two after the previous image.

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A sideways, diagonal lunge...top of head and closed blowholes are visible.

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Like an inflated baloon starting to collapse, the ventral grooves of the oral pouch can be seen in this image of the anterior portion of the belly side. The grooves continue down to the navel (not seen underwater in this image).

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Water spills out as the mouth begins to close.

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The huge oral pouch - left lateral view.

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