Kelping Could Be Therapeutic For Humpback Whales As It Shreds Parasites, Study Says

Humpback whales are found to have enjoyed playing by rolling around in seaweed known as "kelping," but experts discovered that this is also beneficial to them as it eliminates bacteria and parasites from their skin.

Scientists had previously characterized kelping, but only as sporadic occurrences, before the habit was first documented in 2007.

It turns out that humpback whales all around the world take pleasure in the gentle caress of seaweed on their skin as it comes as a sort of play and possibly as a calming body scrub.

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Humpback whales, which belongs to the subgroup of filter-feeding whales baleen whales, are known to interact with items in their ocean habitat.

The new study, which was released on September 15 in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, claims that humpback whales occasionally play with driftwood and logs in addition to fishing tackle and jellyfish.

The researchers had examined 95 social media posts that showed humpback whales kelping in locations from the North-East Pacific and North Atlantic to Australia's west and east coasts.

Furthermore, expert noted that although the term "kelping" implies a fondness for kelp, a huge brown algae that grows in very shallow waters close to the shore, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) engage with a variety of seaweed.

"It's very clear from drone footage that the whales are targeting the kelp and sometimes leaving a pod of whales to go straight for the kelp," study lead author Olaf Meynecke, a research fellow at Griffith University's Coastal and Marine Research Centre in Queensland, Australia, said in an interview.

He added seaweed probably feels nice and velvety against their skin.

Humpback whales have sensitive, highly innervated hairs around their jaws and around their heads, which may be activated when they brush across seaweed.

Read Also: Two Humpback Whales Caught in Shark Nets Off the Queensland Coast During a Whale Migration

Protection from bacteria and parasites

Kelping also help humpback whales when it comes to shedding bacteria and parasites that have colonized their skin.

Seaweed is thought to have antimicrobial properties, but further research is required to determine whether the seaweed's alleged antibacterial effects also apply to organisms that hitchhike aboard whales.

Sometimes, humpback whales will bite down on seaweed and pull it beneath before releasing it again. This may also be done to clean their mouths.

"They're grabbing it with their mouths - which is really interesting, because they're baleen whales that don't have teeth, and for them to bite something is not a natural instinct," Meynecke said.

However, Meynecke suggested that parasites might be outwitting humpback whales by clinging to seaweed patches and leaping across when whales approach for a scrub.

It's possible that these whales have been seen grooming themselves before.

Earlier this year, researchers had captured footage of humpback whales giving themselves a full body clean on the bottom for the first time.

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