Today again was wet and cool. Our final mission on the water was to study local ichthyology and make general observation. It did rain, heavy at times, for most of the near three hours on the river where the water remained calm. No sea sickness today_Yea! We did use sea worms and clams as bait, caught lots of crabs. I snagged a small lobster (4-5inches) which hung on when I lost it before I got it into the boat. Our fearless Captain did catch a flounder that was a keeper, over 12 inches in length and we also spotted a harbor seal. I was much too wet to stay out on the boat so after drying off at a local coffee house we returned to work at the boat house.
The afternoon discussion was whales. There is generally two groups of whales, baleen and toothed. The baleen whales are filter feeders and the toothed whales are flesh eater, which have an adaptation called throat pleats on the lower jaw that expand to accommodate large catches of fish. The lower jaw may also in some species separate out from the skull to aid the pleats. The baleen is attached to the top jaw only and is itself made of keratin, similar to our finger nails. Water freely moves through and out of the baleen but plankton and sometimes small fish get trapped as food. Baleen is shorter in the front and longer toward the back. The size varies greatly from a foot or two in the humpbacks (front of mouth) to 50 feet (rear of mouth) in the Alaskan Bowhead. The size of the baleen by species is dependent on the abundance of nutrients in the water . If a species naturally feeds in a nutrient rich area they will likely have smaller baleen and visa versa for a species feeding in a nutrient poor area, lower concentration of nutrients would require greater surface area of baleen. Further the hardness and design of the baleen can also vary, if a whale feeds where there may be schooling fish, the baleen would be thicker and more compacted to endure the impact of the fish on the baleen when the whale is traveling some 20 knots. Wright whales move slowly, perhaps 5 knots, and because they have blubber up to a foot thick they are a desired by hunters. Slow moving makes them easier to catch and when they die, they float.
The blue whale is the largest species measuring between 90 to 100 feet and weigh up to 110 tons. Their lungs are size of a compact car and have a blow hole that a human child could fit in it. The blow hole is it's nostril, some species have two, and can blow water 30 feet in the air. The blow fills with water as it dives but the blow closes before water get to the lungs. Some species can say underwater, holding their breath, for up to an hour. All whales have two bow hole openings in the skull merging into one blow or staying separate with two blows. 
The skull is often broad , especially for toothed whale, across horizontally and is a bit concave vertically to help capture returning echos from it's own sound. This give the whale forward information. Baleen whale are more likely to have a bony rise or hump to the front portion of the skull for support of the baleen. Whales have no vocal cords but generate sound by controlling the speed of the air moving through their nostrils. Clicking sounds often heard on trained dolphins, related to the pilot whale, is the clapping of their jaws. All whale have a tongue.
Finback whales have large nostrils with modeled skin, white jaw on the right side, gray on the left jaw, and have pigmentation swirling on it's skull that is unique to a individual whale, similar to the uniqueness of a finger print. These whales will typically have a single calf that is 20 feet and weight up to 10 tons that will drink 40 to 70 gallons of milk per day. The mother would unlikely be able to support a second calf. Whales will stay in their preferred feeding grounds during gestation (about 12 months) and will migrate south to have the calf but will have little to eat until it returns northward for feeding. Typically the whales will lose 30% of there body mass during this period.
Sei whales are small and are found in the northeast waters of Canada. They feed on copepods and small fish of the region. The Minky whale (22ft) has a shape dorsal fin with white patches on it's fins which can act as an identifier. The Wright whales in a toothed whale but do have no throat pleats as expected but have an adaptation called calosites which are hard layers of skin around the face, eyes and portions of the body. It may act as a feature for the attraction of a mate as in the size of the horns on a ram.
Humpback whales have 15 foot wide white flippers. They are considered to be one of the most acrobatics whales. Their general shape, broad, makes them more buoyant requiring a vertical and energetic dive. These whale are a threaten species with only about 350 remain in the north Atlantic. They are frequent injured or kills by large ship when they swim in commerical sea lanes. Humpbacks have whiskers , last remaining hairs of this mammal, which are believed to
to be used for sensory. They also have unique social behaviors such as male circling a female for her select of a worth mate. The details of this behavior are some what disturbing which among may things involves feces to impress her. Humpbacks will collectively create a bubble cloud which use bubbles to trap and force schooling fish to the surface and the whale swims up from the center eating many fish. They also are know for making what is called a bubble net which is a circular tube of bubbles, again used to trap schooling fish.
As a final statement I would to thank our captain and crew for a wild ride and a great learning experience. I'd do it again.
