August 26th - Humpback whale soup in the Strait of Georgia!

August 26th was a day full of humpbacks in the Strait of Georgia. We found a total of 4 humpbacks. First we found Valiant near Valdes Island. Valiant has a very well known fluke as it has very noticeable scars from Transient Killer Whale attacks.

Afterwards our boats found Split Fluke (who is Valiant’s mom) and Niagara, who were very active just outside of Porlier Pass. Split Fluke was doing some tail slaps and was also seen defecating. As can be seen in the picture below, humpback feces are red in colour due to the krill they eat being rich in iron. The release of this iron encourages the growth of phytoplankton which benefits the food chain and productivity of the ocean greatly. Humpbacks feed on krill below the surface and defecate near the surface which promotes phytoplankton growth. This is called a “whale pump” as the whales transport Nitrogen as they frequently go up and down from the surface. Nitrogen also helps promote phytoplankton growth. Since phytoplankton are the primary producers of the ocean, they then in turn feed the primary consumers of the ocean such as Krill and small fish which are then eaten by humpback whales. The diagram below also demonstrates how the whale pump works.

Diagram of how the whale pump works. This diagram is taken from the Journal Article “The Whale Pump”.

We also found Fader with our boat Cascadia. Fader was doing lots of tail and pec slaps. Check out below for some of the awesome photos our naturalists took:

Tail slap by Split Fluke! Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher.

Split Fluke. Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher.

Niagara. Photo by Natalie Reichenbacher.

A beautiful fluke from Split Fluke. Photo by Cheyenne Brewster.

Jilann LechnerAugust 31, 20201 Comment