Whale sneezes rainbow, proving nature can be beautiful and weird

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They say at the end of every rainbow is a humpback whale.

Wait, is that what they said? Regardless, thanks to a perfectly timed wildlife photographer in California, you can now safely say that there's at least one humpback whale at the end of at least one rainbow. In the Instagram video above, you can see the glowing cetacean appear to be snorting a rainbow.

Wildlife photographer Domenic Biagini captured the video during a whale-watching trip near San Diego last December. (Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Tour photographer Biagini’s Instagram feed is loaded with amazing whale and dolphin videos.) Biagini posted the video to Reddit yesterday (April 10) , this video has since accumulated more than 26,000 "support votes". [Whale Album: Giants of the Deep]

Here’s to the love of glowing whale boosters. Whales are oxygen-breathing mammals that happen to live in the ocean; the blowholes on their heads are basically giant nostrils. Whales use these nostrils just like you do when swimming: taking in air from the surface and exhaling old air as you breathe in fresh air. The water column you see in the video above comes from this exhale - but the water column isn't all water. Whales typically exhale a mixture of air (heated by the whale's body), some water vapor and a large amount of snout. Humpback whales breathe rainbow near California. (Domenic Biagini)

In Biagini's video, the whale's breath catches sunlight just as raindrops refract light into its component colors, creating a rainbow. Like all rainbows, this is a play of light unique to the observer; if Biagchini had photographed it from a different angle to the sun, he might not have seen the same rainbow effect.

Even if you've never seen a whale sneeze rainbow, let this video remind us that humpback whales are awesome. These whales are thought to migrate farther than any other mammal on Earth, covering distances of up to 6,000 miles (9,800 kilometers) in a single season. They sing love songs, follow grammatical rules, form lasting friendships, and might even try to save your life when sharks (and bloodthirsty killer whales) are nearby. Still, the giant placentas of these whales are pretty rough.

Originally published in the journal Life Sciences.