Fin Whale Mistaken For A Minke Whale Causes Excitement In Central Puget Sound
Fin whale in Shilshole Bay (Photo: Sara Montour Lewis)
Buzz started spreading last week around Puget Sound about a minke whale that had been spotted for several days in a row at Golden Gardens Park in Seattle. As local whale enthusiasts took to the shoreline to get a glimpse chatter began that while it seemed like a minke whale at first further observation made it seem that the identification didn’t feel quite right.
Fin whale from the shoreline of Golden Gardens Park in Seattle (Photo: Sara Montour Lewis)
“IT’S AWFULLY BIG FOR A MINKE, ISN’T IT?” — “I THOUGHT YOU COULDN’T REALLY SEE THE SPRAY FROM A MINKE EXHALING?” — “THAT DORSAL FIN IS CURVED, BUT NOT THAT CURVED.” — “OK, BUT IT DEFINITELY ISN’T A HUMPBACK, SO IF IT ISN’T A MINKE WHAT COULD IT BE?”
Finally over the weekend we got our answer when drone footage and a positive ID by Yifan Ling proved that the ‘minke’ circling Shilshole Bay was actually an endangered fin whale. Fin whales are the second largest whales on earth (second only to the massive blue whale) and have only been spotted in Puget Sound a handful of times.
Drone image of a fin whale in Mexico (Photo: Leonardo Gonazalez / Shutterstock)
2021 was a record-breaking year for whales of all species around Puget Sound. More research is needed to decipher exactly why that is, but we’re crossing our fingers that it wasn’t an anomaly and that the conservation work being done around the greater Puget Sound watershed is leading to improved habitats and consistent food sources for the wildlife that call our waters home.
Fin whale in Shilshole Bay (Photo: Sara Montour Lewis)
