Humpback whale

Description:

Large robust body 50-56' (16-17m) long and 90,000 lb (40,000kg) males slightly smaller than females. Backs are dark with white or mottled bellies. Very long flippers 15' often white with dark marks. Underside of their tail or fluke can range in color from totally black to totally white with endless variations of pattern in between... individuals can be identified by the patterns on the underside of their tail. They are members of the Balaenoptera family have baleen and filter small fish and krill rather than having teeth like Orcas or dolphins.

Habitat:

This particular group of whales inhabit the North Atlantic. Breeding in the West Indies between January and March (Silver Bank North of Dominican Republic is a favorite breeding ground) and feeding in the cold rich waters of the Gulf of Maine, Eastern Canada, Greenland, Iceland and the North Sea.

Notes:

This is a female named SPOON Hwc#0150. She was first seen in 1977 so whale watchers in Massachusetts and Maine have know her for 34 years!! She has had many calves in those years (humpbacks normally give birth every other year) and some of her calves have had calves so she is a grand mother, maybe even a great grandmother. In any case she is one of the first group of whales identified. Allied Whale holds the identification catalog for the North Atlantic Humpback whales http://www.coa.edu/html/nahc.htm You can read more about her here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/flukematche...