Humpback whale (lob-tailing)

Megaptera novaeangliae

Port St. Johns, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Nikon F100, Provia 400, Nikon 80 - 400 VR

Humpbacks raise their lower bodies and slam their flukes into the water - known as lob-tailing.

Sometimes two males competing for a single female will engage in this practice as a form of real or ritualized combat.

At other times a single humpback will lobtail with no other whales in the immediate vicinity - perhaps as a means of communication.