SCIENTIFIC NAME: Megaptera novaeangliae

DISCOVERED: Borowski, 1781

COMMON NAME: Humpback Whale; refers to habit of raising and bending its back in preparation for a dive, accentuating the hump in front of the dorsal fin

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION:

Widely distributed in all oceans
Distinct seasonal changes in distribution
Spends winter in high-latitude, cold-water feeding grounds
Spends summer in low-latitude, warm-water breeding grounds
Migrates thousands of miles between the two

DESCRIPTION:

Long flippers, representing 23-33% of body length
Black, blue-black, or dark gray upper side
Low, stubby fin with hump
Large, stocky body
Raised lumps called tubercles occur on head and lower jaw
12-36 grooves
Head is rounded when seen from above and slender in profile
Large, notched tail flukes often raised before deep dive
Average adult body length= 12.9 m (males) 13.7 m (females)

NATURAL HISTORY:

HABITAT:

Spends much of year in shallow water, fairly close to continental shores or islands, breeding and feeding on offshore banks
Occur from the tropics to polar waters
Photograph

FOOD & FEEDING:

Mostly feed within 50m of the surface
Prey includes krill and shoaling fish, mainly herring, sand eel, capelin, and mackerel
Known as a "gulper" for closing the mouth after engulfing a mouthful of food and water, then expelling the water through the baleen plates to leave the food on the inner surfaces and eventually swallowing it
Makes "lunges", in which the whale swims through the prey with its mouth open, often erupting at the surface with food and water pouring from the gape

LIFE CYCLE:

Females reproduce at 2-3 year intervals
12 month gestation period
Give birth to single calf
Nursing lasts 10-11 months

BEHAVIOR:

Energetic and exuberant
May breach, lobtail and flipper-slap several times in a row
Slow swimmer
Spyhops
Known to lie on its back, holding one or both flippers in the air
Highly inquisitive
3-9 min. dives, followed by 4-8 blows at 15-30 sec. intervals
Males at breeding grounds are well known for their singing- sing the longest and most complex songs in the animal kingdom

WORLD POPULATION:

25,000 worldwide

HUMAN INFLUENCES:

Were easy prey for shore-based whalers
More than 100,000 Humpbacks were killed by whalers
Recovery has been extremely slow
Vulnerable to shoreline pollution, boat traffic, entanglement in fishing gear
Protected by the IWC in 1963
Only remaining direct humpback fishery today is in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines