"Numbers, Names, and Friends" -- On the AM trip today we had the opportunity to meet nine humpback whales out on the hazy SE corner of Stellwagen Bank, right after we retrieved a cluster of balloons floating on the water about a quarter-mile from the whales. All on board the Tails of the Sea must have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the nine whales, especially during the several times that they breached (and we did see a lot of breaching on this trip - I do believe that each of the nine whales breached at least once sometime during the time we were watching them). But, just how did we know that there were ~nine~ whales? And, more importantly for the research we do on the population of Massachusetts humpback whales, which ~particular~ individual whales did we see?
One whale that we saw that that I don't think I've ever seen before was Release (photo above). How do I know I have probably never seen this animal before? Why, from the distinctive fluke markings, of course. Release certainly does have very distinctive markings (especially the several vertical black marks on its left fluke), and, if I had seen those markings before, I would probably have already recognized Release by sight. But, upon checking the photo I had just taken with the photos in a catalog of fluke and dorsal fin markings we keep on the boat, I learned that my new humpback friend was named "Release".
Just why Release is named "Release" I do not know. I am assuming that the name does have something to do with Release's markings, simply because nearly all of the several hundred Massachusetts humpbacks have names related to their markings - however, with several hundred whales, it is difficulty to know all of them (or even most of them), or to know why each is named what it has been named. But, it is helpful to know as many names, and reasons, as possible.
Above is a photo from today's trip of Milkweed, a whale that I hadn't seen since last season. However, I knew instantly it was Milkweed from seeing its markings.
Milkweed is named for the black marks on its right fluke that resemble milkweed pods on stems (above).
Above is a photo of another friend I saw today for the first time since last season - the image shows the flukes belonging to Freefall. Why "Freefall"?
Note the "free falling skydiver" marked in black on white on Freefall's right fluke (above).
In general, humpback names are based on humpback fluke markings, although sometimes they can be based on dorsal fin markings instead. However, sometimes (such as today), one or more whales can be recognized from the shape of their dorsal fins or the markings on them, even if their names actually derive from fluke markings. For example, the dorsal fin above (shown with flukes belonging to Whisk) belongs to Freefall - there is no other whale in our local population that has a dorsal fin shaped at all like Freefall's - if we didn't actually get to see Freefall's flukes on this trip, we would still know from its dorsal fin that we had seen Freefall.
Whether Freefall's dorsal fin (above) is the result of an injury or whether it is natural, we cannot say. However, it does help us know for sure that we saw Freefall. That is, we can say with certainty that we did see a particular whale named Freefall, and we can easily count Freefall as one of nine whales that we did see.
Counting whales, who spend only part of the time at the surface, and who do not necessarily come to the surface all at once either, can be difficult. However, if we are able to know the ~names~ of the whales we saw, or if we can at least recognize each of them individually, we can count them more easily and more exactly: This morning we saw Release (#1), Milkweed (#2), Freefall (#3), Whisk and calf (#4 and #5), Perseid and calf (#6 and #7), and Cajun and calf (#8 and #9). (The calves will all receive their own names generally at the beginning of their third season in Massachusetts Bay.) So, we can say that saw ~nine~ humpbacks on this morning's trip.
However, more important than the fact, that we were able to name and able to count this morning's whales, is the fact that we saw them as nine ~individual~ creatures. You see, the most important part of any whale watch is likely the exposure that we humans get to the inhabitants offshore and their environment. In truth, our species is easily The Most Dangerous Species on This Planet, and the more that we are able to empathize with all the creatures around us, the better off they are - and the better off we are. So, the ultimate significance of seeing nine individual whales, all of whom (except for the calves) have their own names, is that we can better empathize with each of them. So, if one of the whales had ingested the nearby balloons by accident while engulfing a school of fish, which could bind its stomach or intestines, possibly even leading to death by starvation, it would not have been "just" a whale that died. It could have been a particular whale friend known to us as Freefall, or a mother whale named Whisk, perhaps. The crime against the particular whale by a thoughtless member of our species would therefore not have had an ~anonymous~ victim. The victim would have become known to everyone on the boat by ~NAME~.
Our passengers went home today after having met, and having had the opportunity to empathize with, ~Nine~ new ~Named~ humpback whale ~Friends~.
