Whalewatching

VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sun 3 Jul 2011 21:39
Cape Cod is one of the best places in the world to watch whales - several species come here to feed in the rich waters off the coast. At this time of year Humpbacks are the most common, but Minkes are around too, and if you're really lucky a Northern Right Whale (tragically there are only about 300 of these left, and despite the cessation of hunting in the 1960s numbers have not recovered for as-yet unknown reasons). However the Humpbacks are doing well after losing about 90% of their world population before hunting stopped in 1966; there are currently about 80 000.
The Humpback Megaptera novaeangliae is a baleen whale (sieves its food through baleen plates, unlike the toothed whales) which reaches 16m in length and weighs up to 36 tonnes; the biggest animal ever to have lived is also a baleen whale, the Blue Whale; it lives on tiny crustaceans that it filters out of the sea. Humpbacks, which migrate an amazing 25 000km per year, have recently been shown to live far longer than previously realised - over 200 years - and live on fish.
Here is the diagnostic humped back with very small dorsal fin. Note how close the shore is.
 
 
Humpback surfacing showing underside of jaws. Note the large patch of barnacles adhering to its skin (the light coloured patch between the two sets of white stipes).
 
These whales have been 'bubble feeding' in small groups. They dive to the bottom then swim in a circle releasing bubbles which herd their prey (small fish) into a tight group near the surface, whereupon the whales suface and swim open-mouthed through the shoal gulping up fish, and water which then drains out through the baleen plates leaving the whale with a mouthful - a very big mouthful - of tasty fresh fish. You can see the bubbles still rising in the picture below, and the whale in the centre (there are three individuals on the surface here) swimming on its back with its very long white flippers out of the water (megaptera = long wing in Latin).
 
And here is another whale feeding on the surface. Note the gulls which congregate around the surfaced whales hoping to get a few fish. The birds often land on the whales' snouts, as one has here. The tubercles on the whale's snout are modified hairs (all mammals have hair) used to sense their prey when rooting around on the seabed.
 
And here is the tail of a diving whale. Unusually for whales the markings are unique and enable individuals to be identified thus greatly aiding scientific study