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Hi, I’m Sinclair. The Sapphire Princess, a cruise ship, sailed into Vancouver with a rare fin whale pinned to it’s bow. The ship was returning from a cruise to Alaska. Unfortunately the whale had died.
The fin whale, also called the finback whale, razorback or common rorqual, is the second largest whale after the blue whale. It belongs to the baleen family of whales. It can grow in length up to 88 feet. It can reach speeds up to 25 mph. It can be found in all the major oceans except around the polar regions. The whale has been heavily hunted in the past and is considered an endangered species.
The whale is brownish gray with a whitish underside. It has a white patch on the right side of the lower jaw. It has a long, slender body with a pointed snout and paired blowholes. It reaches maturity in 25 years and has been known to live up to 94 years. It will surface for half a minute and dive to depths of 820 feet. The whale has been known to leap completely out of the water.
The whale feeds on schooling fish, squid and crustaceans. While swimming at a high speed, it will open it’s mouth and gulp its prey. It will then filter the water from its month through its baleen trapping its prey. A baleen whale has no teeth but a series of plates which act as filters for feeding.
The fin whale was originally hunted for its blubber, oil and baleen by open boat whalers. The whale was difficult to catch due to its speed and sank if killed. With the coming of th steam powered boat and the harpoon, the whale became much easier to catch. Hunting the whale greatly expanded, reducing the population over the years. Today, the whale can be hunted but in very limited quantities. Collisions with large ships like the recent incident has also taken a toll on the whale population.
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A Fin Whale approaching
