back to article Divers nearly DEVOURED by HUNGRY SEA BEASTS

Two divers nearly relived the Jonah myth when a pair of humpback whales surfaced, jaws first, right next to them in a dining methodology that leviathan-lovers call "lunge feeding". "We were just floating around in the water, hoping to get some shots of the whales in the distance, when all of a sudden the sardines started going …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. VinceH
    Pirate

    Optional

    Wow.

    That is all.

    Icon choice because the divers made haste to the boat!

  2. William Boyle

    Hey momma, I see a great big tasty fish! Can I eat it?

    No dear. You get it's rubber skin stuck in your teeth.

    1. LaeMing
      Go

      And that yellow bit on the back will make you fart for days.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I saw the video and wonder what would happen if the whale have ingested one of those men?

    Would the man be able to escape from the whale's mouth? Would the whale get sick by ingesting that man?

    Holy indigestion Batman!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      There is a documented case of someone being swallowed by a whale and then regurgitated from (I think) the early 1900s.

      1. andreas koch
        Coat

        @ AC 2143 GMT -

        I take it that was some kind of Space/Time portal whale?

      2. Captain DaFt

        Close, 1891: http://www.ycaol.com/swallowed.htm

        The encounter left him insane for a month, and permanently bald, blind, and bleached white.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Probably not.

          http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/n/newjonah.htm

          1. Captain DaFt
            Holmes

            Re: Probably not.

            Interesting your link led to:

            http://web.archive.org/web/20021015131359/http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1991/PSCF12-91Davis.html

            Which tends to show that James Bartley was a real person, who toured England with his tale, which was sparked by media interest in a whale beaching ( the Gorleston whale).

            It then saw print in a few minor newspapers, and then the tale was used by Pastor Harry Rimmer (I'll bet he got teased in school!) to prove the Bible was literally true science, and scientific theory the work of the Devil.

            In essence, a tale oft told by a con man, and spread as gospel far and wide by someone that needed it to be true to support his beliefs.

            Fascinating detective work by Edward Davis ferreting out the true tale!

            1. Captain DaFt
              Facepalm

              Re: Probably not.

              " Interesting your link led to:"

              Ack! I meant the story you linked to had a link to the Edward Davis story.

              (I hope that's clearer.)

      3. James Micallef Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        There is a documented* case of someone being swallowed by a whale and living in it's stomach for a couple of weeks before being regurgitated, from (I think) the early 1900s (BC)

        *documentation may or may not be authentic

    2. Tsu Dho Nimh

      Probably get spit out immediately.

      Humpbacks have huge mouths, but a very small throat, relative to the mouth size.

      You could get hurt,by their jaws, but they don't have teeth, they have "baleen".

      www.whaleresearch.ca/photo_gallery/albums/humpbacks/baleen.sized.jpg

      1. Shannon Jacobs
        Holmes

        Re: Probably get spit out immediately.

        But maybe the whales were doing research, like the Japanese 'researchers'. While the whales might have disliked the taste of humans, I haven't heard many reports of Japanese who don't like the taste of whales.

        Yes, Gertrude, they still have 'research samples' of whale meat at the local grocery stores in Japan. I certainly saw some within the last few weeks, though I don't pay close enough attention to see if it is sometimes 'out of research'.

        1. LaeMing
          Boffin

          Re: I haven't heard many reports of Japanese who don't like the taste of whales.

          My understanding is that senior Japanese associate whale meat with wartime austerity, when it was the only meat they could get. The stuff apparently tastes rank. Only posh people wanting to prove how posh they are to other posh people pretend to like it. Most gets turned into pet food and cheap school-supplied meals (ie fed to people who have little choice but eat it). The latter is intended to try to generate a taste for the stuff in upcoming generations in the face of the fact that the vast majority of existing adults won't eat the stuff.

          So why do they persist in killing whales for heavily subsidised pet-food? The Japanese whaling industry has a long long history dating all the way back to ... WWII austerity measures. And has a powerful political lobby group associated with it.

    3. Ru

      Would the man be able to escape from the whale's mouth? Would the whale get sick by ingesting that man?

      They couldn't have been swallowed, so the whale would have eventually had to spit em out. Divers are covered in hard bits, wiggly and have a distressing tendency to generate a lot of gas so the owners of the mouths would have quickly worked out that something was amiss.

      I suspect the biggest problem is the fact that the whales are moving pretty fast, and one of them actually hitting you is going to be bad news. They probably wouldn't do it deliberately (the divers are clearly too big to be food) but if you're hiding in a dense cloud of fish, the whales may not notice til it is too late.

  4. Michael Hoffmann Silver badge
    FAIL

    Swallowed? Hardly

    "A humpback whale's mouth measures up to 15 feet across, but its esophagus is only about 6 to 10 inches wide."

    Never mind humpbacks are baleen whales.

    Cool vid though.

  5. Vaughan 1

    Diver 1: Don't worry, whales only eat sardines

    Sardines: Swim away!

    Diver 2: Oh look, sardines

  6. Mr C

    Whale 1: Hey look, some puny humans are chasing us

    Whale 2: Lets go have some fun

    In the meanwhile in a different universe, the puny human filming this manages 4 mil. youtube views in just 2 weeks.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    I once had a book on diving...

    ...that had a section on sharks. (paraphrasing) "Sharks don't bother me," the writer said, "because they can't see me in the brown cloud that forms when I see them."

    Tux. 'cos I always run to him when frightened.

  8. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Whale finds humans in his food, leaves disgusted

    In other news, Johnny Blubber was disagreeably surprised to find a pair of humans polluting his sardine sammy this morning.

    "There were just floating there, right in the middle of my plate" Johnny declared after the incident. "It's like they were doing it on purpose."

    As we all know, humans ruin the taste of sardines with their rubbery smell. Johnny tried to eat anyway, but the stench was just too much.

    "I couldn't take it, I had to leave." Johnny said, disgusted. "What a waste." he added.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Moby Dickheads

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You know you're having a bad day

    when you get eaten by accident. :(

  11. Nigel 11
    Happy

    Whales knew they were there ...

    Whales and other cetaceans see by sonar, so they surely knew that the divers were there.

    In sonar, you are translucent. So the whales can see your internal organs working. If they're intelligent enough, they probably have you pegged as a funny sort of dolphin with a hard thing on your back. If they have a sense of fun, they can see exactly how much they've startled / scared you by how much your heart speeds up.

    My guess, those whales knew *exactly* what they were doing!

    1. Nick Ryan Silver badge

      Re: Whales knew they were there ...

      "In sonar, you are translucent".

      This seems to defy all common sense, and possibly a few laws of physics as well. Do you have any reports or evidence of this?

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Whales knew they were there ...

        Translucent means you can partially see through the surface to see the underlying structure.

        Pretty good analogy for a bag of water with bones in surrounded by water

        1. Nigel 11
          Headmaster

          Re: Whales knew they were there ...

          I'll accept the literal meaning of translucent is light-specific. I thought extending it to how a whale's sensorium probably depicts a man was obvious. I was going to say "transparent" but that implies close to "invisible", which is completely wrong.

  12. Tom 7

    Just how big is the hook and the fishing reel on the ends of that line?

    Can a humpback tow you at skiing speeds in a dive boat?

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like