The sight of a nearly 30-meter-long blue whale swimming right next to a boat full of tourists in the ocean left many viewers both thrilled and anxious.
Image of a nearly 30-meter blue whale approaching a tourist boat – (Photo: Newsflar)
This extraordinary encounter with the blue whale took place off the coast of Newport Beach, California, on August 1. The person who posted the video noted: “It’s rare for this species to behave so friendly. Blue whales usually focus on feeding and don’t pay much attention to human presence. But this whale approached us multiple times even when the boat wasn’t moving.”
The blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever existed on Earth. One of the largest dinosaur species from the Mesozoic Era, Argentinosaurus, weighed only 90 tons, which is comparable to an average blue whale.
This species has a massive, elongated, and streamlined body that allows it to glide through the water effortlessly. They possess smooth, bluish-gray skin, with a lighter-colored belly and a series of folds on their neck that can expand up to four times when feeding. The tail of the blue whale is straight and divided into two flukes, helping to propel their bulky body through the water’s pressure.
Blue whales belong to the “baleen whale” family. They have about 395 baleen plates in their upper jaw, which they use to filter food from the water. Like their relatives, blue whales also have two blowholes on their backs, which are used to expel old air and seawater from their lungs when they surface to breathe.
