Humpback Whale
Megaptera novaeangliae

f5.6 @ 1/500s, ISO:100, Nikon D80 w 300mm

\"Humpback Whale,\" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.Humpbacks have 270 to 400 darkly colored baleen plates on each side of their mouths. The plates measure from a mere 18 inches (46 cm) in the front to approximately 3 feet (0.91 m) long in the back, behind the hinge. Ventral grooves run from the lower jaw to the umbilicus about halfway along the underside of the whale. These grooves are less numerous (usually 14–22) than in other rorquals but are fairly wide.

Stellwagen Bank, Massachusetts

08/04/2007