November 22, 2016 — The whale spotted in the Hudson River Thursday in Friday was likely led there by food, the head of a local whale research group said.
Photos of the humpback whale showed it “lunge feeding,” said Paul Sieswerda, president of Gotham Whale.
“That’s when they come up and break the surface and consume these bait balls of menhaden,” he said.
Predators drive menhaden, sometimes known as bunker fish, into tight balls. This allows whales to open their mouths and eat them all at once.