Fin whale, Earth's second-largest species, spotted off Vancouver Island west of Sooke
Eagle Wing Tours photographed the 70-foot whale on Sunday, June 28, one of the largest ever seen in local waters. Fin whales are rare visitors to the Salish Sea.
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A fin whale estimated at 21 metres (70 feet) long was photographed swimming off Sheringham Point, west of Sooke, on Sunday, June 28—a rare sighting that eagle-watching guides called one of the largest the Salish Sea has ever hosted.
The only whale larger than a fin whale is the blue whale. Fin whales are baleen whales, using long thin keratin plates hanging from their upper jaws to filter small prey like krill from seawater. They are distinctive for their asymmetrical coloring: dark on the left side of the lower jaw, light on the right.
Eagle Wing Tours, which photographed the whale, called fin whales "rare visitors" to the Salish Sea. In Canada's Pacific waters, Fisheries and Oceans Canada says fin whales typically gather along the continental slope in areas with high krill concentrations, though they are also found in deep channels between islands along B.C.'s northern mainland coast.
Fin whales are capable of prolonged high-speed swimming, their primary escape strategy when hunted by killer whales. They are found in all major oceans, can live up to 90 years, and reach up to 72 tonnes and 26 metres in length. In Canada they are rated a species of special concern; in U.S. waters they are listed as endangered. Like humpbacks, fin whales are recovering from heavy commercial whaling during the last century.
