Off the southern tip of Vancouver Island, a humpback whale throws its fluke skyward — barnacled tips catching the light, seawater streaming off the trailing edge in long ribbons. A split second between worlds. In the next, it's gone.

Every humpback carries a unique pigmentation pattern on the underside of its fluke, as individual as a fingerprint. Researchers use these markings to track movements across entire ocean basins. This whale left its signature on the water — and on the frame.

Photographed on a whale watching cruise out of Victoria, BC, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.