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Finback Whale
Estimated North Pacific Population: 14,000-18,000 N. Pacific, endangered
Ways to identify this species: body dark blue grey color, whitish yellow below, prominent back and dorsal fin, pointy head, asymmetrical coloring of head, one side baleen lips dark, other side partially white
Biology
Ways to identify this species: body dark blue grey color, whitish yellow below, prominent back and dorsal fin, pointy head, asymmetrical coloring of head, one side baleen lips dark, other side partially white
Biology
- The Finback Whale is migratory, spending winters in the cold, food-rich waters in and around the arctic, then moving south to warmer waters, where it lives off its fat reserves during the summer months.
- The second largest whale after the blue whale, it weighs up to 70 tons and measures 70feet long. It can travel at 35 mph in short bursts of speed and can dive for up to 50 minutes.
- To catch krill, it feeds by straining water with its baleen .
- The development of modern hunting technology and the depletion of the blue whale population made finback whales a larger target for hunters. Their numbers quickly began to fall and the population hasn’t been able to recover to its pre-hunting levels.
- Collisions with ships cause injury and death. Finbacks are also threatened by the scientific and commercial whale hunt that continues today. Pollution and climate change also pose a threat to the whale’s habitat and contribut to beach strandings
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