Humpback Whale

The humpback whale is a baleen whale and rorqual with a distinctive body shape, long pectoral fins and tubercles on the head. Adults are 14–17 m long and weigh up to 40 tonnes, with females usually 1–1.5 m longer than males. The upper side is generally black and the underside varies from black to white; the baleen plates, 540–800 in all, are black. Males sing complex songs lasting 4–33 minutes (Wikipedia, general species account).

Humpbacks usually migrate between feeding areas near the poles and breeding areas near the equator. The diet is mostly krill and small fish, often caught with bubbles. Whaling brought the world population to around 5,000 by the 1960s.