Humpback Whale

(Megaptera Novaeanliage)

The Humpback is part of the Rorquals which also includes the Sei whale, Minke whale, Blue whale, and the Brydes whale. There are two things that the Rorquals have in common. They have dorsal fins on their backs and ventral pleats (wrinkled skin that expands) that run from the tip of their lower jaw to their stomachs. The Humpback's dorsal fin and tail or fluke is as individual to other Humpback whales as fingerprints to humans. Since they're individually different, the discovery of finding new whales is never over. You will find valuable information about population sizes, migration routes, and behavior patterns.

The Humpback's head is wide and rounded when seen from above, but slim from side view. The Humpback's body is not as slick as the other Rorquals, but it is very round narrowing down to the tail stock (the place where the whale's body meets the tail). On the top of the head and lower jaw have round bump-like knobs each holding at least one straight hair. The purpose of the hairs is uknown. Scientists think the hairs provide a sense of "touch". The Humpback has 20-35 ventral grooves which stretch beyond the navel (bellybutton).

The Humpback's diet consists of krill (a shrimp-like plankton) and different kinds of small fish. They eat 1 and 1/2 tons (3,000 pounds!) of food a day! That's a lot of food! These are where the ventral pleats come in hand. The Humpback's mouth fill up with water and food and the ventral pleats expand.

The Humpback's flippers are about 1/3 of the Humpback's body or 15 feet. An adult female Humpback whale can grow up to 45 feet long, even though males are 43 feet long. Older Humpback whales are about 80,000 pounds.

The color of the Humpback's skin is dark bluish-gray, but their flippers and sides are white. They live from 30 to 40 years. Their size is doubled after one year.

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