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Whales: Giants of the Ocean

Whales are among the largest and most remarkable animals on Earth. These marine mammals live in oceans around the world, from warm tropical waters to the cold seas surrounding the poles.

Life Beneath the Surface

Although whales spend their lives in water, they breathe air through blowholes located on top of their heads. They must regularly return to the surface to breathe before diving again in search of food or traveling through the ocean.

Whales are warm-blooded, give birth to live young, and nurse their calves with milk. A thick layer of fat called blubber helps protect them from cold water and stores energy during long migrations.

Two Main Groups

Whales are generally divided into baleen whales and toothed whales. Baleen whales filter small animals from the water using flexible plates inside their mouths. This group includes blue whales, humpback whales, and gray whales.

Toothed whales use teeth to catch fish, squid, and other prey. Many of them also use echolocation, producing sounds and listening for returning echoes to understand their surroundings. Sperm whales, belugas, and orcas belong to this group.

The Blue Whale

The blue whale is the largest known animal to have ever lived. An adult can grow longer than a city bus and weigh well over one hundred tonnes. Despite its enormous size, it feeds mainly on tiny crustaceans called krill.

Communication and Migration

Whales communicate using clicks, whistles, pulses, and complex songs. Some sounds can travel across great distances underwater. Humpback whales are especially famous for their long, patterned songs.

Many species migrate thousands of kilometres each year. They often feed in cold, nutrient-rich waters before traveling to warmer regions where they mate and give birth.

Protecting Whales

Commercial hunting once caused severe declines in many whale populations. Today, whales also face threats from fishing gear, ship collisions, underwater noise, pollution, and changes to ocean ecosystems.

Conservation programs, safer fishing practices, protected habitats, and international cooperation can help whale populations recover. Protecting whales also supports healthier oceans because these animals play an important role in marine food webs and nutrient cycles.

Whales: Giants of the Ocean

Whales are among the largest and most remarkable animals on Earth. These marine mammals live in oceans around the world, from warm tropical waters to the cold seas surrounding the poles.

Life Beneath the Surface

Although whales spend their lives in water, they breathe air through blowholes located on top of their heads. They must regularly return to the surface to breathe before diving again in search of food or traveling through the ocean.

Whales are warm-blooded, give birth to live young, and nurse their calves with milk. A thick layer of fat called blubber helps protect them from cold water and stores energy during long migrations.

Two Main Groups

Whales are generally divided into baleen whales and toothed whales. Baleen whales filter small animals from the water using flexible plates inside their mouths. This group includes blue whales, humpback whales, and gray whales.

Toothed whales use teeth to catch fish, squid, and other prey. Many of them also use echolocation, producing sounds and listening for returning echoes to understand their surroundings. Sperm whales, belugas, and orcas belong to this group.

The Blue Whale

The blue whale is the largest known animal to have ever lived. An adult can grow longer than a city bus and weigh well over one hundred tonnes. Despite its enormous size, it feeds mainly on tiny crustaceans called krill.

Communication and Migration

Whales communicate using clicks, whistles, pulses, and complex songs. Some sounds can travel across great distances underwater. Humpback whales are especially famous for their long, patterned songs.

Many species migrate thousands of kilometres each year. They often feed in cold, nutrient-rich waters before traveling to warmer regions where they mate and give birth.

Protecting Whales

Commercial hunting once caused severe declines in many whale populations. Today, whales also face threats from fishing gear, ship collisions, underwater noise, pollution, and changes to ocean ecosystems.

Conservation programs, safer fishing practices, protected habitats, and international cooperation can help whale populations recover. Protecting whales also supports healthier oceans because these animals play an important role in marine food webs and nutrient cycles.

Once again this winter we here in Newquay have been blessed by Humpback Whales.

This may seem surprising to many of you, however, Humpbacks are native here in the UK and since the abolition of Whaling in 1963 the numbers of Whales has increased globally.

This has had a very positive effect on sightings of Whales here in the UK. Recently Humpback and Fin Whales have been turning up in the Isles of Scilly around December and some of them have been moving North looking for food.

This has brought them to North Cornwall and we have had 2 Humpback Whales off the coast of Newquay for about 5 weeks and they are still here now (10 Feb 25) They can be seen best from the cliff top around Watergate Bay and Bedruthan Steps feeding close in shore.

We shall be running Sea Safari trips which will cover this area during the February Half Term, these trips will be run following the “WISE” (Wildlife Safe Scheme) which means we will be putting the welfare of the whale first allowing plenty of space for its natural behavior.

Although I have seen these whales a number of times unfortunately I have not been able to photograph them.

Who is this gorgeous seal that turned up in Newquay Harbour yesterday…?? Not enough of him out of the water to tell yet so we hope to get more images of him today to photo ID…isn't he big though? Watch this space for update….

This extremely cute Whitecoat Seal Pup was rescued today from a local beach close to Newquay Harbour. He is only about three weeks old and suffered from possiblely infected bite wounds. After ensuring there was no mother nearby and that the seal pup was truely sick Chris and I acted with our medics hat on and retrieved the gorgeous pup to be transfered by other British Divers Marine Life Rescue Marine Mammal Medics. He is a good weight so his mum has fed him extremely well so hopefuly he will make a full recovery but his progress can be checked on:

http://www.sealsanctuary.co.uk/corn1.html

This is our fourth seal pup rescue of the season…its been a tough couple of weeks for the seals with the huge ground sea …for advise about what to do if you see a seal pup :

http://www.bdmlr.org.uk/index.php?page=stranded-animals

Cormorants and shags were out in their masses today and lucky passengers were able to see long and far due to yet another spectacular calm day at sea out on our Newquay Sea Safari. We were extremely lucky to spot a Great Northern Diver amongst a group of Cormorants perched on the rocks and also 1 male grey sea, 2 pretty female seals and 1 juvenile seal who popped their heads up to people spot us on the Bounty. A pod of approximately 15 Common Dolphins with a calf joined us riding in our  bow wave as we gradually returned to newquay Harbour spotting for dolphins and Basking Sharks.

April went out as fishing frenzy aboard the “Atlantic Diver” and May came in as Fishie Galore aboard the “Bounty”, (skippered by  Anthony Hills). A spectacular array of species was caught during our 2 and 4 hourly deep sea fishing trips with Ling up to 12lb and Black Bream to 2 1/2 lb as well as mackerel, cat shark,gurnard, cod pollack,congor eel,launce and pouting…Happy Days!! This is what sustainable fishing is all about..rod caught and plenty of different species to cook and taste.

Try this simple to cook and delicious recipe for a really fresh supper idea:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/ling_cod_with_tomato_and_orange/

 

 

27th April Trunk  a  Grey Seal in Newquay Harbour investigating the underwater camera..she obviously wants to be a film star like medalion Man!

26th April 2011 The Crisp Boys are back in town Fishing from Atlantic Diver with catches of cod up to 81bs ,Wrasse, Whiting, Gurnard and at least 50 shimmering blue/green mackerel…fit for the B-B_Q…hmmm yummy! Whilst the fishing Frenzy took place out at sea …our new toy arrived in the guise of an underwater camera with top deck TV monitor!! Now all can share in the magic of the world which lies beneath the boat. Can’t wait to try it! Medallion Man popped up to see all the fish activity back at the Newquay Harbour.