Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-8mjnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T04:51:11.626Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Identifying Humpback Whales using their natural markings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Extract

One must suppose that even before Melville transformed the true story of an unusually lightcoloured Sperm Whale named Mocha Dick into his epic novel, Moby Dick, and certainly afterwards, whalers and zoologists working in the whaling industry have noted that pronounced morphological differences often exist among whales of the same species and stock (Lillie, 1915; Matthews, 1937; Pike, 1953). During the past 15 years, scientists studying living whales have commented on individuals with odd marks, scars, pigmentation patterns or albinism, deformities, algal films or the shape and position of external features such as the dorsal fin.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brown, S. G. 1978. Whale marking techniques. In: Stonehouse, B.ed. Animal marking. London, MacMillan, p 7180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darling, J. D.and others. 1979. Observations on the abundance and behaviour of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) off West Maui, Hawaii, 1977–1979. (Abstract of a paper presented to the Third Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, 1979. Seattle, Washington, National Marine Fisheries Service Marine Mammal Laboratory.)Google Scholar
Jurasz, V. P.and others. 1980. Possible sexing technique for Humpback Whales. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Vol 37, No 12, p 2362–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katona, S. K. and Kraus, S. 1979. Photographic identification of individual Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae): evaluation and analysis of the technique. Washington, DC, Marine Mammal Commission. (Publication No P8–298740.)Google Scholar
Katona, S. K.and others. 1979. Identification of Humpback Whales by fluke photographs. In: Winn, H. E. and Olla, B. L.eds. The behavior of marine animals, Vol 3. New York and London, Plenum Press, p 3344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katona, S. K.and others, eds. 1980. Humpback Whales: a catalogue of individuals identified in the western North Atlantic Ocean by means of fluke photographs. 2nd ed.Bar Harbor, College of the Atlantic.Google Scholar
Kraus, S. and Katona, S. K.eds. 1977. Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the western North Atlantic. A catalogue of identified individuals. Bar Harbor, College of the Atlantic.Google Scholar
Lillie, D. G. 1915. British Antarctic (‘Terra Nova’) Expedition, 1910. Natural History Reports. Zoology, Vol 1, No 3, p 85124.Google Scholar
Matthews, L. H. 1937. The Humpback Whale, Megaptera nodosa. Discovery Reports, Vol 17, p 792.Google Scholar
Mitchell, E. D. 1974. Present status of northwest Atlantic fin and other whale stocks. In: Schevill, W. E.ed. The whale problem. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, p 106–61.Google Scholar
Payne, R. 1976. At home with Right Whales. National Geographic Magazine, Vol 149, No 3, p 322–39.Google Scholar
Perkins, J. and Whitehead, H. 1977. Observations on three species of baleen whales off northern Newfoundland and adjacent waters. Fisheries Research Board of Canada. Journal, Vol 34, No 9, p 1436–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pike, G. C. 1953. Colour pattern of Humpback Whales from the coast of British Columbia. Fisheries Research Board of Canada. Journal, Vol 10, No 65 p 320–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schevill, W. E. and Backus, R. H. 1960. Daily patrol of a Megaptera. Journal of Mammalogy, Vol 41, No 2, p 279–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitehead, H. P.and others. 1980. Migrations of Humpback Whales past the Bay de Verde Peninsula, Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Zoology, Vol 58, No 5, p 687–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitehead, H. and Payne, R. 1981. New techniques for assessing populations of Right Whales without killing them. Washington, DC, Marine Mammal Commission. (Publication No PB81–161093.)Google Scholar
Winn, H. E.and others. 1973. Cytological sexing of Cetacea. Marine Biology, Vol 23, p 343–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar