This entry was posted on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 11:30 pm and is filed under About, Adventure Cruises, History, Information, Migration, Sites, Snorkeling, Snuba, 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
WOW! Look at that breach! Humpback whales are known for their aerial displays. Whale watching in Hawaii should be at the top of anyone’s list visiting the islands and many locals plan their weekends to include going out on the water. The above photo shows a large animal close to 40 feet in length. According to researchers, this animal would weigh in at one ton per foot! Under the chin plate you can see a rust colored area. Those are barnacles, a crustacean which attaches itself to whales up in the cold waters of the north. According to the experts, the North Pacific population of humpback whales is approximately 13,000 animals, and about 60 percent of those migrate (some annually) to Hawaii.
Breaching is frequently seen while they are here, returning to the place of their birth. It takes only a couple beats of their tail to propel this massive gentle giant out of the water. If you look closely, you can see the eye is wide open and looking down toward the water. The lines running down the belly from the chin are called ventral pleats. These can expand when the whales are taking in sea water and prey in the north while they filter feed. In Hawaii, fighting males are also seen taking in sea water to inflate these pleats in an effort to appear very large and menacing, say researchers. So, why do they do this? There are many theories, but for a whale naturalist it takes much consideration on the surrounding circumstances. Sometimes they may be sloughing skin (done every couple of hours), dislodging barnacles, showing strength to a female or an opponent, communicating to whales in the area, and many others. In this situation, it appeared this male was competing with another big male unknown to us until moments later when he popped up next to our boat! The two pushed and shoved as they swam away. It was extremely exciting to watch, and hear the thunderous splashes and massive blows, sounds, I’ve been told by many, stay in memory for a lifetime.
Keep checking back to this site. We will continue to add new postings several times per week on these much loved whales, the humpback.
