Species: Megaptera novaeangliae
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
This is a mostly black or gray baleen whale with very long (up to one-third of body length) flippers that often are white or partly white. In front of the paired nostrils the head is flat and covered with knobs. The rear edge of the flippers and fluke is scalloped. The dorsal fin is variable but often has a hump or step along the front edge. The throat has about 14-35 longitudinal grooves. The baleen generally is all black, up to 70 cm long. Maximum length is around 52 feet (16 meters). The blow is bushy and V-shaped. Humpbacks often raise the tail above the water when starting a deep dive. Source: Leatherwood and Reeves (1983).
Articles:
Overview
Humpback whales have made a remarkable recovery in Puget Sound and throughout the Salish Sea. While their numbers vary through the season, they can be seen in almost any month of the year. In essence, this has been a return to waters they formerly used prior to commercial whaling that wiped out the local population. Humpback whales around the world have made strong recoveries from whaling and now number some 30,000 in the North Pacific but there are some major differences in how populations in different areas have fared.
The Salish Sea may be a giant ‘practice room’ for humpback whales as they get ready to sing in their winter breeding grounds in Hawaii and Mexico. A network of hydrophones is recording it all.
Why did all the grebes leave? Where did they go? And what does their disappearance say about the health of the Salish Sea? Seasonal declines among some regional bird species could hold important clues to the overall health of the ecosystem.
A 2013 article in the journal Animal Conservation compares the effects of increasing anthropogenic noise to habitat loss for endangered fin, humpback and killer whales in the Salish Sea.
Classification
Mammalia
Cetacea
Balaenopteridae
Megaptera
NatureServe
Classification
Ecology and Life History
This is a mostly black or gray baleen whale with very long (up to one-third of body length) flippers that often are white or partly white. In front of the paired nostrils the head is flat and covered with knobs. The rear edge of the flippers and fluke is scalloped. The dorsal fin is variable but often has a hump or step along the front edge. The throat has about 14-35 longitudinal grooves. The baleen generally is all black, up to 70 cm long. Maximum length is around 52 feet (16 meters). The blow is bushy and V-shaped. Humpbacks often raise the tail above the water when starting a deep dive. Source: Leatherwood and Reeves (1983).