Seal swims free from a humpback's jaws

A whale letting a seal out of its mouth is not something you spot everyday, but that's exactly what whale watchers on tour in the Strait of Juan de Fuca saw Thursday.

State of play: The Blue Kingdom Whale & Wildlife Tours was observing a humpback whale known as "Zillion" feeding on a school of small bait fish, said Erin Gless, executive director of Pacific Whale Watch Association.

Zoom in: At one point, Zillion opened her jaws and lunged toward the surface for a scoop of fish, but got an unexpected surprise with a mouthful of seal, who was probably feeding on the same fish, Gless told Axios.

• Humpback whales eat small fish and krill, not seals, and their throats are only the size of a grapefruit, Gless said.
• Zillion repeatedly opened her jaw and lowered her head into the water until the seal was able to successfully swim away, she said.

Yes, but: While the seal may have survived this round with a whale, an encounter with a Bigg's transient orca , which eat marine mammals, would have had a different ending.

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