A beautiful humpback whale has been spotted off the coast.
The whale, which can grow over 15m long, live for 90 years and has some of the longest migrations of any mammal (some populations swimming 8,047 km between breeding and feeding grounds) was spotted just off the coast of Cornwall. It was the first time the people on the sea safari had seen one of the majestic creatures.
CornwallLive spoke to Ian Kitto, who works at Padstow Sealife Safari, who captured the experience on camera as those on the boat squealed with excitement. He explained that it was the first ever sighting of a humpback whale on one of the safaris saying the "crew as well as passengers were very excited".
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In a post to its Facebook page later the team wrote: "We have just had our first ever sighting of a humpback whale on our two hour Sealife Safari! These amazing whales can grow up to 15 metres long, with distinctive huge pectoral fins, a third of the length of their body. They can also be identified by their tail flukes which they lift up out of the water as they dive. Needless to say, our crew as well as passengers were very excited!"
Humpback whales are massive, growing to 17 metres in length. Their huge, dark bodies are flanked by enormous pectoral flippers growing up to around a third of their body length. Their numbers are thought to be strong around Cornwall, although sightings remain relatively rare.
The Whale and Dolphin Conversation states: "Fantastic tools, they use their highly-manoeuvrable flippers for hunting by slapping the water and for swimming and even possibly regulating their body temperature. Equipped with a giant tail, this is their identifying feature. When they ‘fluke-up’ and dive, researchers can identify individual humpback whales by the markings on the underside of their tails."
