Ancient depictions of Norse sea monsters may be feeding whales

In 2011, scientists recorded a previously unknown feeding strategy in whales: they simply opened their mouths to let fish swim in. Now, researchers think this behaviour may not be as new as it seems.

John McCarthy, a maritime archaeologist at Flinders University, Australia, believes whales could have been the inspiration for mythological Norse sea monsters known as hafgufa. After studying 2000-year-old Norse manuscripts, he and his colleagues found that the descriptions of how the ancient sea monsters fed matched the trap behaviour recently observed in Bryde’s and humpback whales. “It’s exciting because the question of how long whales have used this technique is key to understanding a range of behavioural and even evolutionary questions,” says Erin Sebo at Flinders University, another member of the research team.