Seal seen capturing and eating eel in sea off Portland Bill
A seal has been spotted wrangling a large eel for its lunch. Biology teacher Dr Jeremy Rowe filmed the seal after spotting it wrestling something in the water off Portland Bill on Saturday.Dr Rowe had been birdwatching on a nearby cliff when he saw the kerfuffle through his telescope about 500m (1,640ft) away. He said he spent about 20 minutes watching the seal capture and then eat the eel, which looked about 1.5m (5ft) long.
He explained: "I used to be a marine coastal warden and I enjoy birdwatching, I go diving, so I enjoy being by the coast."My wife and I were walking and I was doing some birdwatching, when through my telescope I see this seal wrestling with a big eel. "By the time I got my scope out, I could see it had managed to catch it and subdue it, but it was struggling." Dr Rowe said the seal was not able to close its jaw around the eel, which meant it would keep dipping underwater and then reappearing.He continued: "The tide was just starting to come in so the seal was drifting with the water. It had to stop swimming at one point because it was busy battling, so it just gave up and floated."I've never seen anything like it."Since posting the video online, the teacher from Dorchester says many locals have commented and believe it was the female grey seal called Fiver.
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