spyhop

English

Alternative forms

• spy hop
• spy-hop

Etymology

spy +‎ hop

Noun

spyhop (plural spyhops)

1. (of a cetacean) The action of raising the front half of the body out of the sea in a controlled manner.
   • 1986, Barbara C. Kirkevold, Joan S. Lockard, Behavioral Biology of Killer Whales, A.R. Liss, page 153:

     In a more vigorous spyhop, the pectorals are exposed but are rarely brought completely out of the water. On occasion a whale respires during a spyhop.

   • 1989, Cynthia D'Vincent, Voyaging with the Whales, McClelland & Stewart, page 116:

     Our cook aboard Varua once had a memorable experience when a curious whale swam under the ship and surfaced next to the galley porthole in a spyhop.

   • 2016, Mark Carwardine, Mark Carwardine's Guide to Whale Watching in Britain and Europe, 2nd edition, Bloomsbury:

     A spyhop occurs when a whale remains stationary and upright while raising its head vertically out of the water, before sinking smoothly below the surface without much splash. It is sometimes known as a head rise or eye-out.

Synonyms

• eye-out
• head rise

Verb

spyhop (third-person singular simple present spyhops, present participle spyhopping, simple past and past participle spyhopped)

1. (intransitive, of a cetacean) To raise the front half of the body out of the sea in a controlled manner.
   • 2002, Anne Welsbacher, Killer Whales, Capstone High-Interest Books, page 14:

     Killer whales sometimes spyhop. To spyhop, they lift the front half of their body out of the water.

   • 2006, Trevor Day, Whalewatcher, Marshall Editions, page 21:

     Many species of cetacean, especially those that frequent coastal waters, ‘spyhop’. They raise their heads slowly out of the water and look around. Spyhopping probably enables them to orient themselves or find the source of a disturbance.

   • 2008, Thomas A. Jefferson, Marc A. Webber, Robert L. Pitman, Marine Mammals of the World: A Comprehensive Guide to their Identification, Elsevier, page 162:

     This is a very aerially active species, and killer whales often breach, spyhop, flipper-slap and fluke-slap; they often perform these behaviors in bouts.

Anagrams

• hyppos, shoppy