's North Coast has uncovered an intriguing pattern among the thriving humpback whales that feed there each summer. Researchers call it a "whale wave," in a peer-reviewed study published this week in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series. Each year, as hundreds of humpbacks arrive in the Kitimat fjord system, near Hartley Bay, B.C., they follow a seasonal pattern, as observed in visual surveys by the Gitga'at First Nation and North Coast Cetacean Society. Co-author Janie Wray of the North Coast Cetacean Society observes a humpback in the study area, near Hartley Bay, B.C. Humpback whales, seen here from above, use the Kitimat fjord system in different ways throughout the summer, the study found.

Source: CBC News March 15, 2017 00:45 UTC