During our visit to the Whale Museum, I was a little surprised to come across a display case containing preserved brains and fetuses of various organisms. The display allowed us to directly make comparisons between the brains, and it was easy to see that the brain of the fin whale …
For many decades in the United States, the ocean was seen as the ultimate wastebasket, where all of our wastes could be diluted and forgotten. Not for long, however, could these wastes be forgotten: Today, in the words of the magnificent Susan Thistle, we recognize pollution as one of the …
It was a dark and chilly night on August 8, 1970 in the Puget Sound near Whidbey Island. The orcas of L-pod were gracefully swimming along in the thick of the night, just like any other night. A young calf around the age of three named Tokitae was traveling alongside …
There are three essential items needed for a late night excursion to False Bay: rubber boots, headlamp, and a tolerant nose. When I first walked out onto the mudflat, I was completely surprised at how extensive the mudflat was. I had no idea that practically the entire bay could become …
Growing up I remember being entertained on my outings to the beach by Bull Kelp. Dragging the long whips along the beach and puncturing the bulbs to hear the sound of the gas escaping. Until recently I have never thought of the functionality of this whip like algae that wash ashore. After …
Naturally, I have to talk about something from the state up North. Although there are Orcas–northern residents and transients–in Alaska, I am much more familiar with the humpbacks. Humpbacks, Megaptera novaeangliae, are pretty much the cutest thing on earth… if a fifty foot long whale can be cute. If these …
Until a week ago, I could not have told you the difference between a porpoise and a dolphin, and in fact, would have used the terms interchangeably. No longer, my friends! I have been learninated! At the Whale Museum last week I finally discovered the differences between these two types …
Undoubtedly the darlings of Pacific Northwest megafauna, whales have captured our imagination for centuries. Vicious killers, gentle grazers, awe-inspiring and reverent, whales have filled human culture with imagery and lore that persists to this day. But are whales truly the first and only ’monster-mammals’ of the Salish Sea? I undertook …
Whale lice. Who’da thunk it? At the Whale Museum last Thursday, most of you probably noticed the display case containing various parasitic invertebrates that can sometimes cause whales a lot of grief. One of the species displayed was the parasitic whale barnacle Coronula diadema. These barnacle infections occur frequently and …
It’s a MONSTER!! …well, that might be a bit extreme. But the hybridization between Dall’s (Phocoenoides dalli) and Harbour (Phocoena phocoena) porpoises struck me as both rare and strange. Dall’s and Harbour porpoise morphology. Few good images of Dall’s-Harbour hybrids are freely distributed. Natural hybridization between wild animals of different …