Ballet movements

Amazing footage - an overhead view of a humpback whale surfacing through a bait ball of fish. The drone footage was captured off the coast of La Jolla, California by  DolphinDoneDom. The first eruption is the best as the whale materialises from the depths.



A bait ball occurs when small schooling fish swarm in a tightly packed spherical formation about a common centre. It is a last-ditch defensive measure adopted by small schooling fish when they are threatened by predators. You can see the birds circling attracted by the bait fish and seemingly not scared off by the whale.