The humpback whale, known for its spectacular breaching, lobtailing, flipperslapping and singing, is one of the most energetic whales passing through the Channel today.

Brief Description:

• Color: Black or dark gray upperside; white flippers usually on both sides with some black markings.

• Dorsal: Low, stubby dorsal fin with a broad base.

• Body: Large and stocky with a slender head in profile as well as broad flukes with irregular, knobby trailing edges.

• Migration: Spends winters in high-latitude, cold-water feeding grounds and summer in low-latitude, warm-water breeding grounds, migrating thousands of miles between the two.

• Habitat: Remains relatively close to continental shores or islands, breeds and feeds on shallow banks, yet migrates across open seas.

Feeding, behavior and interesting facts:

Humpback whales have a unique way of feeding by using a technique of lunging through patches of krill (small shrimplike crustaceans) or fish and then gulping vast mouthfuls of water. Humpbacks also use an impressive skill called "bubble-netting" which involves swimming in a spiral beneath their prey and blowing out air from their blowholes. This "net" of bubbles surrounds the shoal of fish or krill, then, the Humpback swims through the center with its mouth open. These techniques are the most diverse, as well as spectacular of all baleen whales.

Breaching has been found to be more common at breeding grounds in warmer waters. They vary from a full leap out of the water to a leisurely surge with only a small portion of the body emerging. The whale usually lands on its back and the breach is followed by a violent exhalation from the blowhole.

The Humpback Whale has a very distinctive blow that varies in shape according to the individual, but is commonly tall and bushy-like. The most distinctive feature of a Humpback Whale is that the flippers are very long (nearly one-third of the body length). The black and white pigmentation on the undersides of their flukes is as unique as the human fingerprint.

Humpback tail flukes are very distinctive in shape, size, color, and pigmentation allowing them to be identified by photographs taken of their flukes.

At birth, the Humpback Whale is 4.5-5.0 m (15-16 ft) in length and 2.2 tons in weight. The average length and weight for females is 13.7 m (45 ft) at 33 tons and for males 13.4 m (44 ft) at 26.5 tons. The largest Humpback Whale has been recorded at 19.0 m (62 ft) for a female and 17.5 m (57 ft) for a male.

The number of baleen plates on each side of a Humpback Whale is between 276-400 and they have an average of 28 throat grooves.

The gestation period is 10-11 months and they head towards warm waters to breed.

The estimated population on the United States west coast is estimated at about 597 individuals.