I’ve seen about 24 fin whales feeding (including 6 mother/calf pairs), south of Block island RI  last week, and have had reports of fins feeding nearer to Montauk recently.  None that I saw were thin.

Arthur H. Kopelman, Ph. D.
President
Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island
president@cresli.org
www.cresli.org
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"When the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more,
another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again"
                         William Beebe

From: marmam-bounces@lists.uvic.ca [mailto:marmam-bounces@lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of mjtetley@aol.com
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 9:04 PM
To: marmam@lists.uvic.ca
Subject: [MARMAM] Skinny fin whales: Nova Scotia

I’ve been collecting data over the past four weeks on the distribution of rorqual whales off the Atlantic Coast of Nova Scotia, Canada.

During this time I have encountered a lot of rather skinny looking fin whales. Almost all sighted displayed distinct signs of the vertebrae being discernable, with approximately eight individuals showing concave depressions along their flanks.

I was wondering if any other researchers or naturalists working along the East Coast of Canada or the US have noticed this recently as well ?

Any information would be most appreciated.

Regards

Mike Tetley

Please address all responses to m.j.tetley@bangor.ac.uk

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