Blue Whale (in Norwegian ror: wrinkle and hval: whale) Rorqual blue (French - in Norwegian ror: grooves and hval: whale) Blue Whale (English) Balaenoptera Musculus (latin) Length: from 21 to 30 meters Weight: from 80 to 130 tons (The largest ever recorded: 33 meters and 190 tons.)

Facts:

• The Blue Whale is the world's largest animal;
• Breathing from 8 to 15 times, it sometimes exhibits its fluke when diving and hunting for periods varying from 10 to 30 minutes;
• Normal speed is 6 or 7 km/h, but when the whale is disturbed it can be 40 km/h;
• The Blue Whale eats 2 to 4 tons of krill (cold sea plankton) each day in summertime;
• It can take between 25 000 to 35 000 litres of water into its mouth at one time, about the same as one large swimming pool;
• A calf is born every three years;
• The new-born calf measures 7 meters and weighs 2.5 tons;
• It drinks 90 kg of milk each day and grows 3 kg/hour (82 kg/day);
• The blue whale can live up to between 40 and 50 years.

Population :

There remains, throughout all oceans, only about 10 000 Blue Whales left. In the early 1900s, the total number was more than 100 000. In the '30s, in one single year of hunting, it is estimated that 30 000 Blue Whales were killed.

Common rorqual (in Norwegian ror: wrinkle and hval: whale) Fin back Whale or Fin Whale (English) Balaenoptera Physalus (latin) Length: from 20 to 25 meters Weight: from 40 to 80 tons (In mysticetes, the female is larger than the male, and can reach up to 27 meters in the Southern hemisphere.)

Facts:

• The stomach and the right side of the lower jaw are white; the back is black.
• The Fin Back Whale breathes 2 to 7 times and dives for periods varying from 10 to 20 minutes;
• This marine mammal may dive, in the St. Lawrence, as deep as 250 meters;
• It eats 3 tons of krill each day (cold sea plankton), small herring, cod, small shell-fish, sand-eel and sleeve fish;
• The Fin Back Whale can take in its mouth up to 20 000 litres of water. It swallows and filters this quantity of water around 73 times a day;
• A calf is born every three years;
• The new-born calf measures 6 meters and weighs 2 tons;
• The Fin Back Whale can live for over 100 years (the oldest ever found in the Antarctic was 111 years old);
• Age is calculated by using the layers of wax coating in the ear tube (2 layers = 1 year).

Population:

There remains, in the North and South Atlantic oceans, around 120 000 Fin Back Whales. Before Whale hunters arrived, it was estimated that the population was somewhere between 300 000 and 650 000.

Petit rorqual (French - in Norwegian ror: wrinkle and hval: whale) Gibard (nickname) Minke Whale or Mink Whale (English) Balaenoptera Acutorostrata (latin) Length: from 8 to 9 meters Weight: from 6 to 8 tons (The female is larger than the male, up to a length of 12 meters)

Facts:

• The Mink Whale has a white line on its breast-plate fins;
• The Mink Whale breaches, at 30 second intervals, 5 to 8 times and dives for periods varying from 5 to 10 minutes;
• This fast swimmer can reach speeds of between 24 and 30 km/hour;
• It eats 711 kg of krill each day (cold sea plankton), small herring, cod, small shell-fish and sand-eel;
• The Mink Whale can give birth to a calf every 18 months (in the North Atlantic);
• The new-born calf measures 2.5 meters and weighs 350 kg;
• The Mink Whale lives for nearly 50 years;
• Age is calculated by using the wax coating layers in the ear tube (2 layers = 1 year).

Population:

There remains, around the world, hundreds of thousands of Mink Whales. They are mostly hunted by the Japanese and Norwegians, in a hunt called "specific". The Japanese quota is set at 400 per year.

Rorqual à bosse (French - in Norwegian ror: wrinkle and hval: whale) Mégaptère (French) Humback Wale (English) Megaptera novaeangliae (from Greek mega: large, pteron: fins and Latin novus: new, angliae: England) Length: 12 to 13 meters Weight: from 25 to 30 tons (May reach up to 16 meters in length)

Facts:

• The Humpback Whale has white breastplate fins with black spots, 4 to 5 meters long (one-third total body length). Each whale is uniquely coloured under its fluke fin, which enables easy identification;
• The most famous amongst whales can live life as a solitary animal, or it can live as a couple of 4 to 12;
• The Humpback Whale breathes 5 to 10 times and dives for periods varying from 10 to 30 minutes. Its fluke emerges from the water as it dives;
• It travels up to 15 km/h;
• The Humpback Whale eats krill (cold sea plankton), herring, mackerel, cod, small shell-fish and sand-eel; it imprisons its prey behind a wall of bubbles;
• It gives birth to a calf every 2 years in the waters of the Banc d'Argent, in the Dominican Republic;
• This Whale transports with it a great quantity of parasites: whale lice, diatoma, barnacles (nearly 1 ton at certain times) and conchodermas that live hooked to the jaw plates and feed on plankton;
• The Humpback Whale's song varies greatly and its summer "voice" has been the most studied to date;
• It is the most playful of whales. Its numerous acrobatic tricks attest to that!
• The Humpback Whale lives to between 30 and 40 years old

Population:

Around the world, it is estimated that 12 000 members of this protected species still live. Protection measures were implemented in 1966. Just a few hundred of this whale remain in the Atlantic Ocean.

Baleine franche noire (French) Baleine des Basques, Baleine de Biscaye (Nickname) Northen Right Whale (English) Balaena glasialis (Latin glacialis: cold) Length: 15 meters in average, maximum of 18 meters Weight: from 30 to 60 tons

Facts:

• This whale has so much fat that it floats when it dies. This is why hunters called it the Right whale;
• The Northern Right Whale has no back fin, nor does it have abdominal creases;
• Its nostrils are quite separated at the level of its blow-hole and its spout, in a V shape, can reach 5 meters high;
• This is a slow species but it is capable of making surprising moves: jumps, tail and fin slaps. It can also drift, head down with its tail out of the water (candle);
• This whale skims the water and swims with its mouth open in banks of krill, eating and filtering the water at the same time. It also feeds on copepods;
• The combined weight of both its testicles can exceed 1 000 kg (1 ton) during mating season;
• At birth, the Northern Right Whale has tumours on the head, around the eyes, the blow-holes and under the chin;
• Individuals of this species can live over 80 years.

Population:

It is said that only 870 to 1 700 Northern Right Whales still live in the Northern hemisphere and around 1 500 others in the Southern hemisphere. This species' long term survival is the most threatened

Cachalot (French) Sperm Whale (English) Physeter Macrocephalus (latin) Length: from 11 to 18 meters Weight: from 20 to 50 tons (In odontocetes, the male is larger than the female)

Facts:

• The Sperm Whale's blow hole is on the left side it has it has a slanting spout;
• This whale does not have a dorsal fin;
• The Sperm Whale's teeth appear around its tenth year. It will grow a total of 18 to 29 teeth on each side, but only on the lower jaw;
• After a deep dive, its first blow is a real explosion that can be heard from a distance of 1 km;
• The Sperm Whale emerges 5 to 6 times a minute and dives for periods varying from 30 to 90 minutes. It can dive as deep as 3 000 meters;
• The legendary "Moby Dick" eats cephalopods and a variety of fish;
• It gives birth to a calf every 4 to 6 years;
• The Sperm Whale has a life expectancy of 50 to 70 years. In odontocetes, age is calculated by selecting a tooth and counting visible dentine coats, the ivory on the teeth.

Population:

Intensive hunting in the 19^th century, aimed at males, greatly upset the male-female ratio. Considering its reproductive rates, the Sperm Whale is having great difficulty trying to re-establish the equilibrium in its population.

Béluga (French) Canari des mers (Nickname) White whale or beluga (English) Delphinapterus Leucas (latin) Length: from 3 to 4.5 meters Weight: from 700 kg to 1 400 kg

Facts:

• As in the case of the Narwhal and the dolphin, the 7 cervical vertebrae of the beluga are not welded together. This enables them to move their head more easily. Even more, they don't have dorsal fins;
• Their colour, easily hidden by ice, is their camouflage against predators (polar bear);
• The Beluga emerges 5 to 6 times a minute and dives for periods varying from 10 to 15 minutes. It dives to an average of 650 meters, but it can reach depths of 2 000 meters by travelling 4 km under water;
• The Beluga use echolocation for orientation, emitting ultrasounds that produce an echo allowing them to locate obstacles and prey. They communicate through pulsed signals and whistles;
• The Beluga eats eel, caplin, sand-eel, cod, salmon, haddock, sleeve fish and leeches. It can eat up to 25 kg of caplin each day;
• The new-born calf measures 1.5 meter and weighs 80 kg;
• Grey or café au lait coloured at birth, the calf becomes grey-blue and then whitens as it reaches 5 or 6 years old.;
• In the St. Lawrence River, the Beluga can live for 30 to 40 years.

Population:

There remains, in the St. Lawrence River, between 600 and 1 200 protected Beluga. In the early 1900s, before hunting began, it is estimated that around 5 000 Belugas roamed in the area. Each year, we can see between 12 and 20 carcasses in the St. Lawrence. Usual causes are pollution, collisions, disease, etc.

Other beluga populations can be found in Alaska, in the North Sea of Russia, in Hudson Bay, in the Baffin Sea and South of Greenland. Total population is estimated at 80 000.

Marsouin commun (French) (mar: sea and souin for surus: pig) Common porpoise or Harbour porpoise (English) Phocoena phocoena (latin) Length: maximum of 1.8 meters Weight: from 27 to 88 kg

Facts:

• The smallest whale in the St. Lawrence is hard to observe, because of its size;
• It travels alone, in a pair or in groups of 5 to 6;
• The Common Porpoise has 22 to 28 teeth on each side of the upper jaw and 21 to 26 teeth on each side of the lower jaw;
• This whale emerges 4 to 8 times; it seems to jump when emerging;
• The porpoise eats herring, mackerel, sleeve fish and shrimp. Daily quantity is between 4 and 5 kg;
• The male reaches sexual maturity at the age of 4 and the female, at 11 months;
• Testicles can weigh up to 7 % of total male weight, nearly as much as those of the 50 ton Fin Back Whale;
• Gestation period (pregnancy) lasts 11 months;
• The female porpoise gives birth to a calf every two years and nurses it for 8 months.

Population:

Common Porpoises live near the shore. This is one of the reasons why they run aground or get easily caught in fishing nets. It is estimated that some 1 000 individuals die each year in those fishing nets

Phoque commun (French) Harbour seal (English) Phoca Vitualina (latin) Length: from 1.45 to 1.5 meters Weight: 100 kg (Can reach 1.9 meters)

Population:

This little seal is a year-round resident of the St. Lawrence River. Contamination, competition with the Grey seal for food and disturbances related to human activity are the main causes of its precarious state.

Phoque gris (French) Grey seal (English) Halichoerus grypus (latin) Length: from 2 to 2.4 meters Weight: from 225 to 300 kg, may reach 450 kg

Facts:

• It is the largest seal in the St. Lawrence River;
• Its long aquiline snout makes it look like a horse.

Population:

The Grey seal leaves the St. Lawrence Estuary during winter and mates near Prince-Edward-Island and near the Île de Sable near Nova Scotia. There are a great many Grey seals in the St. Lawrence River.

Phoque du Groenland (French) Harp seal (English) Phoca groenlandica (latin) Length: from 1.6 to 1.9 meters Weight: from 85 to 180 kg

Population:

The Harp seal is mainly a wintertime St. Lawrence visitor but it can also be seen in the summertime. They form large groups and their movement just under the surface causes the water to bubble like boiling water. The St. Lawrence population totals a few million and is the target of commercial hunting.

Pictures are supplied by the GREMM. GREMM and Essipit Cruises are partners for various research projects on marine mammals.

News from the Giants / "Les nouvelles du large"

This network is a team of whale fanatics that live and operate in the Estuary in the St. Lawrence Gulf. Members send each week, their observations to researchers who work at the GREMM. To see St. Lawrence whales, to discover their environment, to explore the whales go to www.baleinesendirect.net

The more you find out, the better an observer you'll be!
Learn more about these marine mammals!