Cape May Pelagic, 12/14/24 Part 1: North Atlantic Right Whales, and Fascinating Info on the Spade Toothed Whale

     Saturday was another 12-hour offshore trip to find pelagic species.  This is the time of year to look for a Great Skua, but the large, brown, gull-looking bird continued to be elusive.  The lack of adding a new skua species to my personal list did not lessen the value of the trip.  We spotted several first of the season birds as well as a pair of endangered cetaceans.  It was around the nine o'clock hour when a whale spout was spotted in the distance.  Several more spots were seen as our boat headed towards that area.  When the blow spouts became more discernible, the whale's identification appeared to be a North Atlantic right whale.

North Atlantic right whales are among the world's most endangered species.  Their estimated population is only around 370 individuals.  Only about one-third of them are breeding-capable females.  Their blow spout has a distinctive split, or V, shape.  As we neared the whale's approximate location, the captain had to maintain a required distance of no less than 500 yards.  When the whale surfaced, its head with whitish growths on it and the lack of a dorsal fin on its back confirmed its identity as a right whale.  The whitish growths look like barnacles but are callosities, which are naturally occurring and unique to right whales.  

What was even more exciting than seeing a right whale was seeing two.  A second one surfaced next to the first.  On a trip with the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center boat in March 2021, we came upon two right whales that day too.  That pair was a female with her calf just loafing and bonding near the surface.  That was my first right whale sighting.  This pair was of two adults.  Keeping our distance, we watched this pair interacting with each other for nearly an hour before continuing on our route.  During that time, we had plenty of opportunities to see them stick their heads out of the water and turn to their sides and raise a flipper or two.  We even had a great look as one raised its tail high out of the water.  Whales are always special to see and watch.

Left, two adult North Atlantic right whales off Cape May, NJ.  Right the partial head of one right whale peeking out from the ocean.  © S. Weiss  

The callosities are mostly on the whale's head.  Scientists use them like fingerprints to identify individual whales.

Left, the fluke, or tail, of one of the right whales.  Right, another right whale head taking a peek.  © S. Weiss

The head of one right whale and the tail/fin of the other right whale.  © S. Weiss

Earlier in the morning I had asked one of the cetacean specialists on the staff what his thoughts were about the spade toothed whale that had washed up on a beach in New Zealand earlier in the year.  Spade toothed whales are a species of beaked whales and this species in particular is the rarest of them all.  This was only the seventh specimen to be found and the only one intact.  No one has ever seen a live one.  Dr. Mike, whom I was chatting with, is a research veterinarian and a noted specialist in cetaceans.  What I didn't know was that Dr. Mike had just returned from New Zealand.  He was one of several scientists invited there to take part in the dissection and necropsy of the whale.

His special interest is in the echolocation anatomy of beaked whales.  He told me about some of the initial findings of the whale, such as the animal had nine stomach chambers and that before it died, it had survived a broken vertebra.  Nine stomachs sound like a lot, but other species have even more.  The whale was a male because it showed evidence of two erupted bottom teeth, or tusks, a characteristic found in beaked whales.  The two spade shaped teeth, for which the whale was named, had been broken off prior to its death.  Dr. Mike said the two teeth showed signs of rounding off which meant they were lost when the animal was alive.  The teeth would not have grown back.  He answered affirmatively when I asked him if the teeth not being replaced, like a human, is characteristic of a mammal.  He told me about some more initial findings during the exam, but a cause of death was not yet concluded.

The whole process was coordinated with the indigenous people from where the animal was found.  Whales are important to the Maori people and their bodies are to be treated with respect.  The Maori agreed that it was necessary to find out more about the animal for both science and their culture, but there were restrictions that the scientists had to follow.  Any skin or tissue samples were small, so there wasn't much room for mistakes or multiple tests for each sample.  Dr. Mike's field of study involved the head, but that was not allowed to be "opened up."  They were allowed to take CT scans of the head.  Dr. Mike showed me the 3-D pictures of the skull on his phone, which was very cool.

Dr. Mike reminded me that most of what they are learning from this animal is all new to science.  There are no other specimens to compare what was found.  They really don't know what is normal or indicative of the species, but it is a big step forward in learning about such a mysterious creature.