Humpback whale filmed sneezing a rainbow

Posted on Saturday, 14 April, 2018 | Comment icon

Humpback whales typically surface every 7 to 15 minutes. Image Credit: CC BY 3.0 Whit Welles

A wildlife photographer recently captured the moment a whale's blowhole spray produced a spectacular rainbow.

Domenic Biagini had been on a whale-spotting trip off the coast of San Diego back in December when the footage, which can be viewed below, was captured.

The rainbow formed from the water droplets in the spray in the same way as a typical rainbow forms in the sky when raindrops refract sunlight, splitting it up in to its constituent colors.

"We call it a rain-blow," said Biagini.

A post shared by Domenic Biagini (@dolphinsafaridom) on Dec 2, 2017 at 5:03pm PST

Source: Live Science | Comments (6)

Tags: Humpback Whales

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Recent comments on this story

#1 Posted by Still Waters on 14 April, 2018, 11:44

Lovely! I would have been chuffed just seeing the whale, the rainbow is an awesome bonus.

#2 Posted by third_eye on 14 April, 2018, 13:57

The whale probably ate one too many sea unicorns ... ~

#3 Posted by Daughter of the Nine Moons on 14 April, 2018, 13:58

What Still Waters said and best thread title lol

#4 Posted by quiXilver on 14 April, 2018, 15:06

Oh man, that's the best thing I've seen in a while! Thanks for sharing! � Just last week, my gal and I saw, for the second time in 18 years, a humpback just off our beach.�� Not even twenty yards from shore.� It was a tweener.� She hung out for about 45 minutes, mostly floating nose up tail down, then lazily rolling back and forth, just beyond the surf. Pure amazing, those creatures... spending their lives, flying through water, singing ancient songs and making more whales.

#5 Posted by Katniss on 15 April, 2018, 1:47

Beautiful and magical. Love it!

#6 Posted by Iilaa'mpuul'xem on 15 April, 2018, 13:54

Beautiful.. a magical experience.. thank you for sharing.�

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