Aussie photographer captures remarkable underwater sight: 'Never thought I'd see it'

An Aussie photographer is now one of the very few people to have witnessed an often unseen aspect of the life of a humpback whale, snapping pics of the rare experience off the coast of Western Australia.

Last week marine photographer Aimee Jan was on the Ningaloo Reef when she encountered a humpback whale and her calf migrating south for summer. And as if that wasn't special enough, the pair swam past her to reveal an unusual white mass floating in the water behind them.

Lucky for us, Aimee knew what it was — and she quickly clicked away with her camera.

"It was exciting to find... this is the only time I have seen whale milk and I never thought I would ever see it!" she told Yahoo News.

In her photos, the white substance can be seen floating in the water and staying intact, with an almost majestic appearance.

Why does whale milk look like that?

The photographer described the whale milk as feeling "slimy" and explained it's often been a topic of conversation between her and her colleagues, as the milk has a reputation for looking different than you'd expect in the water. Rather than having a watery consistency like other mammal milk, whale milk appears thick in the water – and there is a reason for that.

"It's so fatty that it just stays like this!" she said.

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Whale calves are not born with the blubber that adult whales have and therefore, they must begin to put on weight as soon as they're born to ready themselves for the cold water awaiting them at the end of their southern migration. Up to 40,000 humpback whales migrate along the west coast of Australia every year.

"Humpback whale milk is very fatty and the idea is that calves can put on a lot of weight from day dot," wildlife scientist Vanessa Pirotta from Macquarie University told Yahoo News. "That's why it looks very coagulant.

"The picture does appear to be whale milk that has come from the mum and not all swallowed by the calf," she added.

Whale vomit or ambergris is produced by some whale species and is valuable as it is often used in perfumes. However, whale milk is of little commercial value.

Humpback calves can potentially feed off their mother's milk for up to a year, but usually by six months they will have a mixed diet of both milk and food, such as krill and fish, Pirotta explained.

Others have been fortunate enough to see whale milk in the water before, but it doesn't happen often.

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