The Øresund Aquarium has been offering regular "tuna safaris" for a few years now. The leaping bluefin tuna is spectacular in itself in this area. However, there are also frequent sightings of other rare guests swimming through the Danish-Swedish strait. A humpback whale was filmed on Sunday, 8 September 2024.
The euphoric observers around aquarium director and marine biologist Jens Peder Jeppesen first suspected a sperm whale (in Danish: Kaskelot) before the marine mammal was identified as a humpback whale. Humpback whales reach an average body size of 13 to 15 metres and feed mainly on krill, but also on small fish such as herring. Their most famous technique is the bubble net hunt, in which the whales build up a veil of bubbles of breath around their prey.
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"The Øresund never ceases to amaze us, and we can't say often enough how unique this fairway between Sweden and Denmark is," says Jens Peder Jeppesen on the Facebook page of the Øresundsakvariet in Helsingør. He calls on all water sports enthusiasts to report sightings of the humpback whale to the aquarium and tell them about their experience.
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Just recently, a killer whale was spotted for the first time during a "tuna safari" in the Øresund. Last year, a beaked whale appeared in the strait and sperm whales have also been spotted. Unfortunately, not all whales survive their mostly accidental excursion into the Baltic Sea, as they do not find enough food in the long term and cannot find the narrow exit again. The stress caused by the heavy shipping traffic probably also plays a role in them straying into the Baltic Sea.
