Photos in this gallery are grouped by the different types of whale behavior. All of the images are from whale-watching cruises with the Pacific Whale Foundation that sailed out of Ma'alaea Harbor on the Island of Maui. Each year I go on about 40 cruises on the waters of Ma'alaea Bay and the Kealaikahiki Channel between Maui and the Island of Kaho'olawe.
The "blow" of a Humpback whale is not for the purpose of clearing seawater out of their mouths, as is commonly depicted in cartoons. Upon surfacing, a whale must exhale to clear the small amount of seawater that remains in the twin depressions of its "nares" (nasal openings), in much the same way a diver clears the seawater from his snorkel. Humpback exhalations have been clocked at more than 300 mile per hour. The high velocity thus generated causes to water to "flash" to steam, propelling the plume of water 15 or 20 feet in the air.
3 January 2013
3 January 2013
The "blow" of a Humpback whale is not for the purpose of clearing seawater out of their mouths, as is commonly depicted in cartoons. Upon surfacing, a whale must exhale to clear the small amount of seawater that remains in the twin depressions of its "nares" (nasal openings), in much the same way a diver clears the seawater from his snorkel. Humpback exhalations have been clocked at more than 300 mile per hour. The high velocity thus generated causes to water to "flash" to steam, propelling the plume of water 15 or 20 feet in the air.
3 January 2013
3 January 2013
Canon EOS 40D |
More details: exif |
Original size: 1055x738 |
Current: 800x560 |
Keywords: whale humpback whales whalewatching breaching baleen megaptera cetaceans flukeslapping whale watching humpback whales balaenopteridae megaptera novaeangliae rorqual maui whales marine mammals tailslapping baleen whales spyhopping lobtailing mysticeti whale behavior ma'alaea bay whale watching in hawaii whale watchcing whale biology pectoral slapping hawaiian islands humpback whale marine sanctuary whale migration megaptera novaeangliae borowski