Big-mouth - Doug Perrine - Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The Underwater World - Highly Commended

Doug Perrine Click to enlarge Big-mouth

Doug Perrine (United States of America)

Big-mouth

Doug was on Golden Gate Bank off the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico, to photograph striped marlin feeding on shoaling sardines. Hunting cooperatively, the marlin herded the fish into baitballs and up towards the surface. When the marlin suddenly made a sharp exit, Doug had an ominous feeling that something was up. And that 'something' was a 10-metre (33-foot) 'high-speed missile blasting through the baitball': a Bryde's whale. Doug says, 'the whale opened its jaws impossibly wide and the throat pleats expanded to take in water and fish.' And nearly Doug, too: he narrowly missed the open mouth, bouncing off the whale's lower lip and throat pleats. The huge gulp complete, the whale's jaws closed and the accordion-like pleats forced the water out through the baleen hanging from the upper jaw, trapping the sardines on the inside. Taking no notice of the human presence, the whale repeated its transformation from torpedo to big-mouth enough times for Doug to capture the action.

Canon EOS 40D + Tokina 10-17mm lens at 10mm; 1/640 sec at f5.6; ISO 640; Subal C40 housing.