Killer Whales Approach a Seal on Ice

A single dark seal lies stretched out on a flat white ice floe left of centre, apparently unaware of what is moving below. In the lower right, a group of killer whales glides just under the surface in a tight line. Their long bodies show as pale teal shapes where the light reaches them. Around them the water is a deep, even blue, scattered with broken ice that thins toward the top of the frame. The surface looks calm, but the scene is tense.

The animals are killer whales (Orcinus orca) and a crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophagus), photographed off the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. Killer whales hunt seals on ice by swimming together toward a floe to build a bow wave that can wash the seal into the water. Despite its name, the crabeater seal feeds mainly on krill. This seal escaped after about three dozen attempts. The wide landscape frame suits a desktop or ultrawide monitor, where the open blue water leaves room for icons.

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