The moment a humpack whale swallows the sea lion (Picture: Magnus News Agency)

These pictures show nature at its most glorious and most violent.

A sea lion was seen being swallowed whole by a whale in Monterey Bay, California.

The 400lb male sea lion was gobbled up after it tried to muscle in on a meal on Monday.

Three humpback whales were feasting on fish with their mouths open at the time and the sea lion wanted in.

Usually they are incredibly agile and fast and can easily avoid the whales but that did not happen this time.

The humpback gobbles down the sea lion (Picture: Chase Dekker/ Magnus News)

It looks like sea lion goes down easily (Picture: Chase Dekker/ Magnus News)

Wildlife photographer Chase Dekker, 27, took the pictures and claimed nothing like it had ever been caught on camera.

He said: ‘Typically when the whales lunge feed at the surface, they close their mouth almost immediately to trap the fish as they sink back down into the sea.

‘This whale kept its mouth wide open the whole way down as I am positive it felt the sea lion bumbling around its mouth.’

The sea lion disappears (Picture: Chase Dekker/ Magnus News)

The sea lion survived the encounter as a whale’s throat is actually only as wide as a melon.

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He will have definitely learned his lesson from his near death experience.

Humpbacks hunt by opening their huge mouths and swallowing and filtering up to 500 gallons of fish-filled water.