They do not have a proper dorsal fin on their back, but a dorsal hump that is situated about 2/3 the way back, followed by about a dozen bumps. The barnacles create unique patterns and scars on the whaleʼs back, which is how scientists and whale watchers identify individuals.
PORPOISE VS DOLPHIN SKIN
There are four species of barnacles that live on the skin of gray whales, with one species not found living on any other whale or substrate. Gray whales are gray in colour and covered in patches of barnacles and whale lice. They then travel to warmer southern waters off the Baja Peninsula of Mexico to specific lagoons to give birth and mate. Gray whales like so many other species of mammals, fish and birds, feast on the rich blooms of plankton and fish eggs in the cold northern Pacific Ocean. Gray whales have the longest migration of any marine mammal, traveling over 20,000km (12,500 miles) round trip on their annual migration from the Bering Sea to Mexico and back. Gray whales are a type of baleen whale who make North Pacific waters their home during spring and summer months. Minke whales are now hunted in Antarctic waters by the Japanese and in the Atlantic Ocean by Norwegian whalers. Because of their small size, they were not heavily targeted during the whaling era until larger baleen whale stalks were severely depleted. This shows that minkes can distinguish between the harmless fish-eating orca and the mammal- hunting or transient orca who will occasionally hunt minke whales. They have been seen playing with resident orca in Haro Strait on several occasions. Minkes are known to be curious about other species of marine mammals.
Minkes tend to stay in offshore locations, but the food-rich waters at Hein Bank and Salmon Bank in Haro Strait attract minkes to our waters throughout the year. They are typically a boat-shy species that do not display many above water behaviors like breaching and spy-hopping. On calm days, you can often smell a minke before you see one. Minke whales have been nick-named ʻStinky-Minkyʻ because of the foul odour that hangs in the air after they exhale.
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