Challenge of Humpback Identification

By Paul Knapp, Jr., CSI Board

Who are you, whale, and where've you been? Most who read Whales Alive! know that humpback whales are distinguishable by the unique markings on the underside of their tails. No two tails are the same, though they can look very similar, so sometimes dorsal fins or other markings are used too. But getting a good photo for positive ID by an expert in the lab is a big challenge. Many shots of these diving whales are inconclusive because of strange angled photos, etc.

Glenn and Stacy Collins have been coming to Tortola, British Virgin Islands, for 24 winters, and recently found a pod of bottlenose dolpins that they often watch, enjoy, and photo from their inflatable. After searching for dolphins on March 29, 2005, they were lucky to see a humpback whale, and to get a photo of its tail. They kindly offered to let me use the shot on my web site. And the more I looked, the more the question: who is this? Which led to much generous help from Bill Rossiter, including comparing it to some of his great humpback photos.

Unidentified whale. Photo taken by Stacy Collins, March 29, 2005, Atlantic side of Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Salt. Photo by Carol "Krill" Carson, taken Sept. 10, 2006, on fall version of Seabird & Whale Tales trip

Carol "Krill" Carson, a scientist with decades of experience as a whale watch naturalist, helped too, and sent her wonderful, most recent, shots of the famous Cape Cod humpback "Salt". Not quite but almost/so close: and how do you compensate for the angle? Dan Knaub, with his great expertise at the Whale Video Company had a hunch it wasn't Salt. What we really needed was the best of experts, so we asked Dr. Jooke Robbins, the Director of the Humpback Whale Studies Program for the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. Jooke knew right away it wasn't Salt, and she was very kind to run the shot through her lab twice, to see if it matched any in her catalog from the Gulf of Maine population. Still no match, so she forwarded it to the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog at the College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine, as well. With the investigation ongoing, maybe one day this angled-professional-tourist shot will tell more of a story. Sometimes, this is how important whale research is carried forward. Thank you everyone!!