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](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/101519_sb_whale-hunting_feat.jpg?fit=1028%2C579&ssl=1)
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