Baby sea creature spotted chasing next meal in California. See ‘stampede bursts’

A baby sea creature was spotted hunting down anchovies with its mama off the coast of California.

On June 14, a tour group got the chance to see their “largest pod” of long-beaked common dolphin, according to a Facebook post by the Dana Wharf Whale Watch.

The nursery pod was spotted feeding while showing off “short stampede bursts” as they changed their route causing anchovies to fly out of the water, the group said.

As the dolphins surfed the boat’s wake, calves stayed close to their mothers and were seen “switching sides as they were drafting to conserve energy,” the group said.

In the same area, a minke whale was spotted before a humpback whale and its baby was seen as boaters passed the harbor, the group said.

“Humpback whales reach sexual maturity between the ages of 4 and 10 years,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Calves stay close to their mom for up to a year before weaning, with the mother being “protective” and “swimming closely and often touching them with their flippers,” according to the NOAA.

The calf and cow pair were seen diving for about eight minutes before surfacing to take around five breaths, the group said.

The show stoppers didn’t end there — the group witnessed an “unbothered” California sea lion that used his back flipper to give himself a little scratch, the group said.

Dana Point is about a 70-mile drive southeast from downtown Los Angeles.

This story was originally published June 17, 2025 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Baby sea creature spotted chasing next meal in California. See ‘stampede bursts’."