Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
Breaching humpback whale (photo credit: NOAA Fisheries)
Description: Known for their playful breaching and iconic whale songs, humpbacks are the second most common whale to be seen on the Oregon Coast. Measuring up to 60 feet in length, humpbacks are larger than the more common gray whales. They have distinctive pectoral fins that have a bumpy scalloped shape and can be 15 feet long. They also have bumps along their face and jaw. These markings can be used to to identify individual whales to track their migrations and research their life history.
Habitat: Humpbacks can be found in every ocean in the world. In Oregon they can be spotted during their winter and spring migrations from Alaska to Hawaii and back. When swimming by the Oregon Coast, humpbacks are often between 5 and 15 miles from shore so they are often spotted by boats and occasionally from the shore.
Diet: Although humpbacks are one of the largest species of animal in the world, their diet is composed of small crustaceans like krill and small fish. They catch their prey by filtering water through their baleen. They can eat up to 3000 pounds per day.
Tide Pool Tidbits:
Humpback whale fluke (photo credit: USFWS)
Humpback sometimes use a method called bubble net feeding that involves blowing a series of bubbles to push krill up towards the surface and into one concentrated area to make them easier to catch.
Although many of the humpbacks that migrate South from Alaska go to Hawaii for breeding season, some go to Mexico and Central America as well.
Humpbacks can live between 80 and 90 years.