A trio of humpback whales break the surface of the water as they work together in a group be-havior known as "bubble feeding" off the coast of Cape Cod near Provincetown, Mass., July 11, 2008. In a group activity unique to the endan-gered humpbacks, they dive below a school of fish then blow a huge bubble cloud to help bring their dinner to the surface where they feed with their mouths wide open. Seagulls fly nearby to dine on the fish that escape the whales.

圖中三頭座頭鯨衝出水面，海底總動員，今年7月11日在麻州普羅文斯鎮附近鱈角外海進行集體「氣泡獵食」行動。這是瀕臨絕種的座頭鯨所獨有的集體行動。牠們先潛到一大群魚下面，再吹出巨大的氣泡雲，來幫助牠們把晚餐帶到水面上，再張開血盆大口，飽餐一頓。

Imagine a dozen humpback whales all rising to the sur-face at the same time, mouths agape. This is what happens during this remarkable cooperative feeding behavior. First, a whale will find a school of small fish. Humpbacks have baleen—a sort of strainer—in their mouths rather than teeth, so they can only eat tiny fish and small shrimp-like creatures known as krill, which are abundant in Alaska waters in the summer due to the long days and plentiful nutrients in the water that support the krill population.

可以想見，如果十餘頭座頭鯨同時升上水面，張開血盆大口，有多壯觀！這就是這種不可思議的合作獵食行為發生的過程。首先，一頭鯨魚先找一群小魚。由於座頭鯨嘴裡有鯨鬚，相當於過濾器，但沒有牙齒，所以牠們只能吃小魚，及一種類似蝦子的動物「磷蝦」。夏天的阿拉斯加水域這些魚蝦特別多，因為白天較長，水裡養分充足，可以養活磷蝦。

The group of whales herds under the school of fish, re-leasing bubbles to confuse the fish and bunch them to-gether. This ring of bubbles is visible on the water before the whales surface. Then, as one, the whales hurdle themselves up, mouths agape at angles greater than 45 degrees. The lower jaw distends like that of a bullfrog in full song. In this way a whale collects a huge mouthful of water, then spits it out, straining it through its baleen. And of course, the food is caught in the baleen. Often the whales will do this feeding over and over.

通常這群座頭鯨會群聚在這群魚下面，吹出氣泡來擾亂魚群，並把牠們趕到一起。在座頭鯨浮上水面前，就可以看到一波波氣泡雲。接著這些鯨魚齊一行動，一躍而起，大嘴張開呈45度角以上。下顎鼓脹有如牛蛙高歌。座頭鯨就以這種方式一口氣吞進巨量海水，再吐出來，並用鯨鬚過濾。當然那些充當食物的魚蝦就卡在鯨鬚上了。座頭鯨通常會一而再再而三反覆獵食。

In the picture above, several whales are under the water. One or more is releasing the clouds of bubbles which you can see on the surface as rings. The birds seem to know something is coming because they are concregating over the bubbles. You can see two whales having swum through the bubbles with their mouths open, then at the surface closing their jaws to trap the fish. A few fish will escape and so here come the birds for their share.

在上面這張照片中，幾頭鯨魚還在水面下，有一頭甚至更多正釋放出氣泡雲，從上面的水環可見一斑。鳥似乎知道可以飽餐一頓，也飛到氣泡上頭。圖中可見兩頭鯨魚張開大口，穿過氣泡游過去，到水面上後再閉上大口捕撈魚群。幾隻「漏網之魚」逃出鯨魚的血盆大口，這時鳥就可以撿些「劫後」剩菜來吃了。