Identification Photos: Humpback Whale, Megaptera novaeangliaeca: The Humpback Whale is a baleen whale and member of the Balaenopteridae Family obtaining its common name from a humping motion generated while swimming. It is a close relative of the Gray Whale as well as the world’s largest animal the Blue Whale.

The Humpback Whale is easy to identify by its stocky body, with obvious humps, and black dorsal coloring. The head and lower jaw are covered with knobs called tubercles.

The Humpback Whale has long black and white tail fins, which can be up to one third of the body length and it has extraordinarily long pectoral fins of up to 20 feet in length which have unique individualistic patterns utilized to identify and track different individuals.

The Humpback Whale ranges in size from 40 to 50 feet long and up to 80,000 pounds in weight. The females are slightly larger than males. The Humpback Whale is very acrobatic, often breaching, spy hopping and tail and flipper slapping the water. It also has have a unique heart-shaped bushy blow hole and spouts 10 feet high. The males are known for their long complex song which lasts from 10 to 20 minutes and is repeated for hours at a time.

The Humpback Whale is found in all oceans of the world and typically migrates up to 17,000 miles per year, usually living alone or only briefly in small groups.

It feeds only during summer months in polar waters and migrates to tropical and subtropical waters to breed and give birth in the winter, fasting and living off fat reserves. The Humpback Whale consumes krill and small fishes and utilizes the spectacular bubble net technique for feeding.

The Humpback Whale lacks teeth and feeds via a series of darkly colored plates inside the mouth that are between 18 and 36 inches in length. It is abundant in Mexican waters during the winter months. Each mature female gives birth once every other year with the newborn calves being up to 20 feet in length and 4,000 pounds in weight. The calves are nursed by their mothers for up to six months.

The Humpback Whale has a life span of between 50 and 60 years. It was a prime target of the whaling industry, first documented in 1614, which continued into the mid-20th century with annual takes approaching 200,000 individuals per year. Subsequently the Humpback Whale population fell by an estimated 90 percent before a commercial whaling moratorium was implemented in 1966. Although the Humpback Whale has recovered to some extent it still suffers from entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, and noise pollution.

The Humpback Whale is also preyed upon by Orca Whales. The global population of Humpback Whales is currently estimated to be 70,000, of which 15,000 live in the North Pacific. Globally this species is currently considered to be “vulnerable” and in some countries including the United States to be endangered. It is currently a favorite of “whale-watchers” noting that they will often approach and circle boats. “Humphrey the Whale,” who visited San Francisco Bay in 1985 and again in 1990, is perhaps the most famous Humpback Whale.

Humpback Whale, Megaptera novaeangliaeca: Observed from a fishing boat near Loreto in Mexico's Sea of Cortez, April 2008. Photo courtesy of Bill Erhardt.