A giant whale was captured on a drone camera in Wales
Rhys Morgan, an amateur fisherman living in Wales, captured video using a drone of a fin whale — the world's second-largest whale species — feeding in the Celtic Sea. An expert described this encounter as a "rare and lucky event."
A giant whale caught on drone camera in Wales
Morgan works at an oil refinery, and in his spare time, he engages in fishing. His drone allowed him to closely observe a fin whale rising to the sea surface and feeding.
Fin whales use the elastic skin folds on their throats while feeding. This enables them to take a huge amount of water into their mouths along with small crustaceans — krill. In a single gape, this volume can reach approximately 68 thousand liters.
These whales can exceed 23.8 meters in length and reach up to 70 tons in weight. Therefore, even a short movement on the sea surface clearly demonstrates the animal's immense size in the drone footage.
Dr. Marianna Chimienti, who teaches the ecology of large marine predators at Bangor University, explained that it is common for a fin whale to come to the water surface to feed.
"For a fin whale, rising to the surface and feeding there is completely natural — it is part of its foraging strategy. However, seeing it in waters so close to the shore is truly amazing," the researcher said.
According to her, theoretically, the whales should have migrated to other regions by this time. However, many aspects regarding the migration and lifestyle of fin whales are still not sufficiently studied. They are assumed to prefer cooler waters.