Happywhale Returns More Humpback Whale Identifications

     In mid-August I went on two whale watching excursions in New England, one out of Plymouth, MA and one out of Narragansett, RI.  I saw dozens of humpback whales over the two days and submitted tail photos of some of those individuals.  From my photos, the folks at Happywhale identified four individuals:  Farfalle, Sanchal, Lever and HW-MN0104020.  

Farfalle, Sanchal and Lever were spotted at Stellwagen Bank near Cape Cod on August 14.  HW-MN0104020 was spotted near the offshore wind farm off Rhode Island on August 15.  Farfalle (sex unknown) is at least ten years old.  It was first spotted on July 31, 2016 at Stellwagen.
Farfalle, a.k.a. NA-11314, HW-MN0100150 and GOM-Farfalle.  © S. Weiss

Sanchal, a female, is at least 11 years old.  She was first recorded on March 4, 2015 at Silver Bank off the Dominican Republic.  Silver Bank, like Stellwagen, is a protected marine sanctuary.  It is a winter gathering spot where thousands of humpbacks gather to mate and give birth.  Besides Massachusetts and the Dominican Republic, Sanchal has also been spotted in Turks and Caicos.  Her mother is the famous Salt.  She was first sighted in 1999 and her lineage is well documented (you can look her up at Happywhale.com).  Sanchal is one of six known calves of hers.  Her grand calves and great grand calves include seven known individuals.
Sanchal, a.k.a. NA-9182, HW-MN0100012, TCI-220 and GOM-Sanchal.  © S. Weiss

Lever (sex unknown) is at least eight years old.  It was first spotted on July 15, 2018 off New Brunswick, Canada.
Lever, a.k.a. NA-0758 and GOM-Lever.  © S. Weiss

HW-MN0104020 (sex unknown) was recorded on August 30, 2024 off Rhode Island.  This whale is only known in the Happywhale catalog and does not yet have a name.  The HW in its catalog number refers to Happywhale, and the MN refers to the scientific name for humpbacks, Megaptera novaeangliae.
HW-MN0104020.  © S. Weiss

Farfalle, Sanchal and Lever also have catalog numbers, actually each has several catalog numbers.  Catalogs are maintained by several whale conservation organizations and are shared amongst them to identify and track these animals.  The other catalogs these whales appear in are GOM- Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale Catalog, NA- North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog and TCI- Turks & Caicos Whales.

I now have spotted 25 identified whales in five years, one of which I have seen twice (VARF-230).  Fifteen of the whales have names. The others are identified by catalog numbers. Besides the previous catalogs, these whales are included in other catalogs:  NYCO- Gotham Whale NYC Catalog; VARF- Virginia Aquarium Fluke Catalog; MCERC- Marine and Coastal Ecology Research Center; WCS- Wildlife Conservation Society; OMMAG- Observatory of Marine Mammals of the Guadaloupe Archipelago; CRESLI- Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island and HDRVAMn- A contracted U. S. Navy project in Virginia.  The oldest whale I have spotted (based on first recorded encounter) is Nile, first seen in 2003.  The youngest is GOM-Photon_26_calf, born this year.
Nile with tail up, a.k.a. NA-0688 and GOM-Nile, and Jabiru swimming in foreground, a.k.a. NA-8469, HW-MN0100187, MCERC-77 and GOM-Jabiru.  © S. Weiss

GOM-Photon_26_calf, a.k.a. HW-MN0104799.  © S. Weiss
This curious and energetic whale is the calf of Photon, born in 2026.  It will eventually be assigned its own catalog number.









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