Among the most distinct features of cetaceans, the order of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and narwhals, are their blowholes, derived nostrils at the tops of their heads that allow them to breathe air while still keeping their bodies mostly submerged. When cetaceans surface to exhale, they also spray water up from their blowholes, making them resemble miniature geysers.
In fiction, the strength of these "geysers" is often heavily exaggerated. The blowholes are portrayed as natural high-pressure hoses able to forcefully move objects as big as grown humans, sometimes to the point that the gushing water serves as a watery platform for people to move atop of. A character who was Swallowed Whole by a whale can even be blown out from the whale's gullet to the outside, often the result of using a Uvula Escape Route. (Though real life whales do not have uvulas — in fact, very few animals do.note ) And sometimes, the cetacean uses its blowhole as a weaponized water cannon.
Subtrope of Artistic License – Marine Biology and Somewhere, a Mammalogist Is Crying. Sister Trope to Water-Geyser Volley. See also Making a Splash for when fictional creatures can use water in other unnatural ways.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Wacky TV Nanana: In one episode, the TV Nanana crew become stuck in the belly of a whale. To get out, Nanaouka decides to push them out through the whale's blowhole by blowing nough pepper up in its mouth to make it sneeze.
- Pokémon: The Series: In Pikachu's Ice Adventure, Pikachu and several other Pokémon land on top of a Wailord (a whale-like Pokémon), which sends them flying with its Brine attack. The water comes out of its blowhole.
Asian Animation
- Happy Heroes: In Season 8 episode 31, Happy S. and Pino arrive inside a whale, since Pino had stated one of the magic staffs sought after by the Supermen was there. Once they appear, Big M., Little M., and Huo Haha, who were all inside the whale's belly beforehand, are sent flying when the whale shoots water through its blowhole.
Films — Animated
- The Angry Birds Movie 2: Samantha, Vincent, and Zoe end up on top of a whale chasing after the eggs, when the whale's blowhole blows the eggs up on top of a cloud.
- Finding Nemo: Marlin and Dory get swallowed by a blue whale that was trying to gulp up a bunch of krill. Dory is able to communicate with the whale and finds out that it wants them to let go of its baleen and drop further back into its throat. Marlin is initially wary of doing this, thinking the whale just wants to digest them, but he eventually relents and lets go with Dory. The two get spewed out of the whale's blowhole right in Sydney Harbor, which they were trying to reach for most of the movie.
- Sing 2: After falling in a canal, Buster Moon ends up on top of a whale, which then blows him back out with his blowhole.
- Surf's Up: While riding a whale to Pen Gu island, Chicken Joe entertains himself by stick his head over the blowhole to get sprayed, which gives him a brain freeze. After introducing himself to Cody, Joe is hit with the spray and blown upwards. ("Butt freeze!")
Films — Live-Action
- The Adventures of Baron Munchausen: When the heroes are swallowed by a Sea Monster resembling a mix between a Monster Whale and a Fiendish Fish, the Baron sprinkles snuff in a way that makes the creature sneeze them all out through its blowhole.
Music
- The Living Tombstone: In the music video for "My Ordinary Life", after being eaten by a whale, the lion escapes by biting its uvula, causing it to shoot him out of its blowhole.
Puppet Shows
- Between the Lions: In "The Last Cliff Hanger", the author of the Cliff Hanger books decides to end his series with Cliff finally getting off the cliff and washing onto a beach after jumping onto the water spurted from a whale's blowhole. This was done because the author had run out of ideas for his books. However, due to the lions helping him remember how to get ideas (as well as the fact that the helicopter singers from the books were bothering everyone) he soon starts the series back up with Cliff being washed off the beach and getting blasted back onto the cliff by a whale (presumably the same one that helped him get off the cliff).
Video Games
- Donkey Kong Country Returns: In "Blowhole Bound", the Kongs progress through the level by riding on whales whose backs can be slapped to cause them to spout. Standing on the jet of water thus created will send the Kongs flying upward, which is necessary for reaching certain pickups.
- Drawn to Life: One of the levels involves riding on a whale that pops up periodically. There are points where it'll shoot water out of its blowhole, and the player needs to ride it up in order to get to platforms or floating coins.
- Kirby:
- Kirby's Dream Land: In Float Islands, Kirby takes a Warp Star that sends him into the whale's blowhole. He's then ejected on a Solid Clouds platform, right before Kaboola's boss fight.
- Kirby Super Star: In "The Great Cave Offensive", one of the bosses is Fatty Whale, a baleen whale with a sailor's coat and a corncob pipe who, among other attacks, slowly swims across the stage shooting up a gusher of water from his blowhole that will hurt Kirby if the latter touches it.
- OMORI: After beating the boss in Humphrey the Whale, the party is expelled outside Humphrey's body through his blowhole.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- Super Mario Bros. 2: One screen of World 4-2 features a pod of whales that sporadically spurt water from their blowholes. The player can jump on the tops of these water spouts to reach the other platforms in the area. The spouts are apparently so high pressure that if you touch the sides of them, you'll take damage.
- Paper Mario: The Origami King: While exploring the Great Sea, the player can encounter the silhouettes of whales swimming just under the water's surface, which periodically spout. If the ship is placed over the spout while this is happening, it will be lifted into the air for a few seconds until the spot dies back down.
- Super Solvers: In Treasure Cove!, completing the second stage results in a cutscene where the Super Solver swims into the mouth of a whale sleeping on the seafloor and gets shot out of its blowhole to the third stage.
- Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland: Furrball's level takes place on a high speed log ride. When Furrball reaches the end of the stage, he sinks into the water, but is shot out of the blowhole of the Mother Whale (from the TV Series episode, "Whale's Tales").
Western Animation
- Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers: In "A Creep in the Deep", a whale shoots the Rangers out of his blowhole to enable them to get over a high wall.
- Classic Disney Shorts: In "The Whalers", Goofy falls through a whale's blowhole and inside its mouth. The whale expels him back out through the blowhole, and then he lands back down and gets his head stuck in the hole.
- Little Bear: The opening has a bit where Little Bear and his friends ride the waterspout from a whale's blowhole up into the sky.
- The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack: Despite spending most of her time at the surface, Bubbie the whale can blow people through her blowhole, although Flapjack and K'nuckles don't do this often.
- Peg + Cat: In "The Allergy Problem", a whale accidentally swallows Peg and Cat, and later blows them out through its blowhole.
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: In "Scooby's Night With a Frozen Fright", while fleeing from the caveman, the gang runs across the back of a sleeping whale. When the caveman tries to do the same, Scooby stomps on the whale so its blowhole would expel a spout of water that lifts the caveman up.
- The opening titles of Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales included Tennessee and Chumley in a rowboat then getting swallowed by a whale. When the whale sees smoke coming out of its blowhole, it expels Tennessee and Chumley through it showing they had made a campfire.
- A Thousand and One... Americas: After being swallowed by a humpback whale in the seventeenth episode, Lon gets out of it by the water geyser exhaled by the animal.
