Humpback whale (lob-tailing)

Megaptera novaeangliae

Port St. Johns, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Fuji S2 Digital, Nikon 80 - 400 VR

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

As here, two males competing for a single female will engage in this practice (and striking the surface of the water with their long pectoral fins as well) 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.