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An independent journal of everyday encounters

Whale Watching Tour

Whale watching tour off the California coast. Guide says, "If we're quiet, we might hear the humpbacks singing." Forty tourists standing silently at the ra

From the story archive · Fictional encounter

Whale watching tour off the California coast. Guide says, "If we're quiet, we might hear the humpbacks singing." Forty tourists standing silently at the rails when—PRRRRRT—a barking spider provides its own marine mammal call.

Without missing a beat, the guide announced, "And that, folks, is NOT a whale, but rather the rarely spotted Pacific Barking Spider." A Japanese tourist recorded it thinking it was an actual whale sound.

Compare the sound with our listening shelf.

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