This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 24th, 2008 at 10:27 pm and is filed under About, Adventure Cruises, History, Information, Migration, Sites, Snorkeling, Whales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Photo Courtesy K. Velasquez
Those glorious male humpbacks! When we really put thought into it, it is indeed amazing to travel a distance of 3500 miles (one way) to compete, or fight, and hopefully mate many times before beginning the journey back north to southeast Alaska for food. If you look closely at this photo you will see the tubercles (sensory nodules) on the mouth region are very bloody. This aggressive move is called a head lunge, but is also known as a head slap. They have a bony chin-plate which is used like a fist. They pound or pummel opponents into making the decision to leave and not mate with the female of his choosing. Although they are very promiscuous, say researchers, the females have some sort of selection process, which includes watching competing males and selecting (perhaps) the largest and most fit male.
Researchers tell us humpback whales of the North Pacific travel as far north as Russia and will feed as far south as San Francisco, or just above the 35 degree latitude. Their preferential meals consist of oily fish such as sardines, herring, scad, small salmon, capelin, and krill, a euphausiid found blooming in great numbers and very plentiful. Calves feed mostly on krill upon their arrival since they do not have long breath holding capabilities and need to be taught how to bubble net and use their pectoral fins advantageously.
In Hawaii, which is the only state in the union to boast humpback whale breeding grounds, we are able to watch and listen to these amazing mammals who can weigh a whopping one ton per foot. We will talk about their many other behaviors in future postings. Boating in Maui waters offers the advantage of seeing many whales since 60% of the population that travels to Hawaii come to Maui County. These shallow water channels off Maui’s coastline offer some protection for the new calves. Come out and learn more about these much loved marine mammals. The sixth largest whale on the planet. The humpback whale.
