Megaptera novaeangliae

Scientific Name:-

Megaptera novaeangliae

Common Name:-

Humpback Whale

Malayalam Name:-

Koonan Thimingalam

Category:-

Mammals

Status:-

Classified as "Least Concern” by the IUCN and listed in Appendix I of CITES and Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). Listed in Schedule II of Indian (Wildlife) Protection Act.

Description:-

The humpback whale differs substantially from the general rorqual body plan. The body is more robust; the flippers are extremely long (up to one-third of the body length) with a series of bumps, including 2 more prominent ones in consistent positions on the leading edge, more-or-less dividing the margin into thirds. The flukes have a concave, serrated trailing edge, and the dorsal fin is low and broadbased (usually sitting on a hump). The head has a single median ridge, and the anterior portion of the head is covered with many bumps (each containing a single sensory hair). The body is black or dark grey dorsally and may be white ventrally, but the borderline between dark and light is highly variable and seems to differ by population. The flippers are white on the ventral side and vary from all-white to mostly black on the dorsal surface. The ventral side of the flukes also varies from all-black to all-white. There are 270 to 400 black to olive baleen plates, and 14 to 35 ventral pleats extending back to the navel or beyond. The blow is rather low and bushy for a balaenopterid, reaching only 3 m. It may sometimes appear V-shaped. Although they generally occur singly or in groups of 2 or 3, larger aggregations develop in feeding and breeding areas. Humpbacks are probably the most acrobatic of all great whales, sometimes performing full breaches that bring their entire bulk out of the water.

Threats:-

Not recorded from Indian coast.

Remark:-

Stranding of this species had been reported near Quilon in 1948 (Mathew, 1948), and from northern Kerala coast (Lal Mohan, 1992; Muthiah et al., 1988). Humpback whales were also sighted from Kerala coast.

Habitat:-

Found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate up to 25,000 kilometres each year. It is one of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from 12–16 metres and weigh approximately 36,000 kilograms.

Synonyms:-

Balaena allamack Gray, 1846; Balaena atlanticus Hurdis, 1897; Balaena boops Fabricius, 1780; Balaena gibbosa Gray, 1843; Balaena lalandii Fischer, 1829; Balaena longimana Rudolphi, 1832; Balaena nodosa Bonnaterre, 1789; Balaena novaeangliae Borowski, 1781; Balaena sulcata antarctica Schlegel, 1841; Balaenoptera antarctica Temminck, 1841; Balaenoptera astrolabe Pucheran, 1843; Balaenoptera australis Lesson, 1828; Balaenoptera capensis A. Smith, 1834; Balaenoptera leucopteron Lesson, 1842; Balaenoptera syncondylus A. Mueller, 1863; Kyphobalaena keporkak Van Beneden, 1868; Megaptera americana Gray, 1846; Megaptera antarctica Gray, 1846; Megaptera australis Iredale & Troughton, 1934; Megaptera bellicosa Cope, 1871; Megaptera boops Van Beneden & Gervais, 1880; Megaptera brasiliensis True, 1904; Megaptera braziliensis Cope, 1867; Megaptera burmeisteri Burmeister, 1866; Megaptera gigas Cope, 1865; Megaptera indica Gervais, 1883; Megaptera kusira Trouessart, 1904; Megaptera kuzira Gray, 1850; Megaptera lalandii Gray, 1864; Megaptera longimana Gray, 1846; Megaptera longimana morei Gray, 1866; Megaptera longipinna Gray, 1846; Megaptera nodosa Bonnaterre, 1789; Megaptera nodosa Lahille, 1905; Megaptera nodosa bellicosa Elliot, 1904; Megaptera nodosa lalandii Tomilin, 1946; Megaptera nodosa nodosa Tomilin, 1946; Megaptera nodosa novaezealandiae Ivashin, 1958; Megaptera novaezelandiae Gray, 1864; Megaptera osphyia Cope, 1865; Megaptera poescop Gray, 1846; Megaptera versabilis Cope, 1869; Poescopia lalandii Gray, 1866; Rorqualus antarcticus F. Cuvier, 1836; Rorqualus australis Hamilton, 1837.

References:-

De Silva, P. (1987). Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) recorded off Sri Lanka, India, from the Arabian Sea and Gulf, Gulf of Aden and from the Red Sea.
Jayasankar, P. and Anoop, B. 2010. Identification of Marine Mammals of India. Narendra Publishing House, Delhi.
Jefferson, T.A., Leatherwood, S. and Webber, M.A. 1993. FAO Species identification guide. Marine Mammals of the World: UNEP / FAO, Rome, 320 pp.
Jefferson, T. A., M. A. Webber and R. L. Pitman. (2008). Marine mammals of the world. Academic Press, Amsterdam.
Lal Mohan, R. (1992). Observations on the whales Balaenoptera edeni, B. musculus and Megaptera novaeangliae washed ashore along the Indian coast with a note on their osteology. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India 34: 253-255.
Muthiah, C., Mohammed, S., Bhatkal, G. and Melinmani, B. (1988). On the stranding of a humpback whale in the north Kerala coast. Marine Fisheries Information Service Technical and Extension Series 85: 12.
Reilly, S.B., Bannister, J.L., Best, P.B., Brown, M., Brownell Jr., R.L., Butterworth, D.S., Clapham, P.J., Cooke, J., Donovan, G.P., Urbán, J. & Zerbini, A.N. 2008. Megaptera novaeangliae. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 26 September 2014.
Sathasivam, K. 2004.Marine Mammals of India. University Press, Hyderabad.
Vivekanandan, E. and Jeyabaskaran, R. 2012. Marine Mammal Species of India. Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi, 228pp.

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