Eye of the minke - Jürgen Freund - Wildlife Photographer of the Year2007

2007: Animal Portraits - Specially Commended

Jürgen Freund Enlarge image Eye of the minke

Jürgen Freund (Germany)

Eye of the minke

'I spent a week on the Undersea Explorer, a research and dive boat. In snorkelling gear, we hung from a line behind the boat and drifted, so as not to frighten the whales. This six- to seven-metre dwarf minke whale turned up, treating us to rare displays of underwater pirouetting. I felt she was looking straight at me.' The dwarf minke whale belongs to the same family - Balaenopteridae - as the largest mammal to ever live: the blue whale. The dwarf minke is thought to be a subspecies of the larger northern minke whale, and feeds by sieving small prawn-like krill and fish through curtains of baleen plates in its mouth.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 12-24mm f4 lens; 1/180 auto; Seacam housing.