Humpback whale | Nature Adventure

Scroll to Learn

Biology

Humpback whales are large marine mammals belonging to the family Balaenopteridae. Some characteristics is their black or grey bodies with a white underside to their flukes (tail fins), flippers and bellies. The most noticeable trait is their long flippers which are modified forelimbs. Their scientific name is Megaptera novaeangliae and megaptera translates to "big- winged" in reference to their long pectoral fins. The bone structure in their fins are similar to that of a human hand and arm.

These creatures can weigh up to 40 metric tons but are incredibly active. Often times they slap their flippers and tails on the surface of the water. Then they can magnificently spring or breach out the water the length of their bodies, which is 45-50 feet. They do so by using their strong fluke to launch themselves out the water going up to speeds of 15-17 mph.Scientist believe they breach in order to communicate when their environment is too noisy and their sirens cannot be herd.

Although humpback whales are marine animals they are still mammals that need to come up for air to breathe. Adult humpback whales usually surface every 7-15 minutes and calves (baby humpback whales) surface every 3-5 minutes.

Ecological Importance

Baleen, sperm whales, and even humpback whales are collectively known as "great whales" as they are known to be the largest mammals to swim Earth. They are the oceans ecological engineers eating many fish and invertebrates and themselves are food to other predators. They distribute nutrients through the water by their feeding at low depths and releasing their fecal plumes near the surface giving plankton the opportunity to grow. This process is called whale pump, when whales move nutrients around thousands of miles and latitudes.

Whales also in death provide nutrients and a home to the creatures of the oceanic floor. Their decomposing carcass becomes apart of what's know as marine snow: the continuous sprinkle of sinking organic matter and ditritous falling from the surface waters of the deep sea. Every now and then the cetacean carcass will sink down called a whale fall. It provides a concentrated source of food source, a 40 ton whale carcass can be equivalent to 2 thousand years worth of marine snow. The species feeding on the whale go through a process called adaptive radiation where organisms diversify into multitudes of new forms when a new resource becomes available. Altering the way these scavengers interact with each other and opening up niches.

The whale carcass first floats to the top providing food to sharks and surface fish. Then the gases escape and the carcass sinks to the ocean floor, now being considered a whale fall at 1 km depths. Large scavengers first eat away at the carcass then smaller enrichment opportunists (smaller organisms) comb out the rest of the carcass. The fragments or detritous of the whale can also enrich the ocean floor soil. Sulfophilic stage of the whale carcass decomposition is the longest process and even though the carcass seems like a dead site, there are many small filter feeders like plankton, worms and other creatures that use the remaining mineralized skeleton as a home.

Did you know?

Whales from the Mysticeti suborder have long, flat keratin plates along each of their upper jaw. This characteristic is called baleen and whales use them to filter feed, replacing their teeth to feed. Depending on the species, the plate can measure from a few inches to over 10 feet in length. Humpback whales are part of this suborder and their filter feeding diet consist of small crustaceans such as plankton, krill, and other small fish. Humans have used baleen for thousands of years for building things such as tool, baskets, corsets and even umbrellas.

While humpback whales are large it is physically impossible for one to swallow a human whole. We can certainly fit inside the mouth of the humpback but that's as far as it goes. The throat of a humpback whale is roughly the size of a human fist and can only stretch 15 inches in diameter.

< Back to the ocean