Hungry Humpbacks
Every spring, summer and fall, hundreds of humpback whales feed off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the cold waters of the Gulf of Maine. The Gulf ecosystem provides the perfect seasonal conditions for plankton – microscopic plants and animals that form the base of the ocean food chain. When winds and ocean currents cause cold, nutrient-rich water from the ocean bottom to move to the water’s surface, plankton increase in population. Fish, humpback whales and many other marine species flock to the plankton blooms to feed. Humpbacks eat plankton, as well as fish such as sand lance, herring and pollock. They have a unique feeding technique called “bubble net” feeding, in which they blow a ring of huge bubbles to encircle their prey and lunge to the surface with their mouths wide open. Instead of teeth, they have baleen – large, comb-like plates that line their jaws and act as a strainer, pushing water out and keeping fish and plankton in as the whales dive back underwater. After feeding for several months, they swim over 15,000 miles to breed and raise their young in the warm, tropical waters of the Caribbean Sea each winter.
Viewer Tip: Like other marine mammals, the endangered humpback whale is threatened by boats, fishing nets and water pollution. If you own a boat, be sure to keep a safe distance and low speed around whales. Do not attempt to feed, attract or chase them. Retrieve any fishing equipment and reuse or discard it properly back on shore. Also, during your end-of-summer visits to the beach, be sure to dispose of all trash, including plastics and fishing line, in a proper receptacle.
If you happen to see a whale or other marine mammal stranded on a beach, call the Northeast Region Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding & Entanglement Hotline at 978-281-9351.
Learn more about the Ocean Etiquette guidelines at http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/oceanetiquette.html.
Season: Summer
(Sources: National Marine Sanctuaries Ocean Etiquette guidelines: http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/oceanetiquette.html. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Megaptera_novaeangliae.html. Dolphin Fleet of Provincetown Whale Watches, Whale Behaviors: http://www.whalewatch.com/research/behaviors.php. Sea World/Busch Gardens Animals, Baleen Whales: http://www.swbg-animals.org/animal-info/info-books/baleen/scientific-classification.htm.)
