Aquarium of the Pacific | Aquarium Blogs | Kera
We’re a bit into December now and at this time we’re waiting for the gray whales to start passing by as they head south for the winter. While we’re out looking for the first grays, besides looking at the seals, sea lions, a variety of dolphins and sea birds, we’re STILL seeing blue whales!
My last blog was about how I’d seen the same fin whale fluke three times in the last year. What makes this exciting is that fin whales don’t fluke. If you happen to have read the last blog, you might have been wondering how I figured out that it was the same fin whale all three times. This week’s blog is about how I use the pictures I take to tell whales apart!
Fin whales are the second largest animal in the world, only second to the blue whale. If you were to read up on the fin whale you would probably learn the longest recorded is about 89 feet, they look similar to blues, and that they rarely raise their tale out of the water while diving (fluking). Having read up on fin whales myself numerous times, when I saw a fin whale fluke I couldn’t believe my eyes! And even more amazing, I’ve seen fin whales fluke three times this year!
I’ve calculated the number of whales we’ve seen from June 1, 2009 until last week from our logs! What an incredible amount of sightings and the numbers seem to be holding strong daily!
Anyone that’s ever chatted with me about whales has probably learned that my all-time favorite animal is the orca a.k.a. killer whale. Out of everything I want to study and be around, orcas are my number one! I’ve recently gotten a report that a pod of orcas are on the way and might be in Long Beach this week!
Kera works in our education department and will be blogging regularly with Alicia about the whales and other animals they spot on their whale watches.
