With a research method called “photo-identification” it is possible to identify individual whales, which is especially efficient with humpback whales. They often show the underside of their fluke when going down for a dive and the fact is that no two humpback whales have the same pattern underneath their flukes. Therefore it is possible to identify them individually.

Since 2001 the Whale Museum staff has been going out on Skjálfandi Bay almost every day and over the years a huge database has been collected. By now the photo-id catalogue of humpback whales contains 135 individuals. Some of them have already been photographed in other parts of Iceland, but exciting news just came from the College of the Atlantic in Maine (USA). One of “our” humpbacks from Skjálfandi Bay has also been sighted in the Cape Verde Islands off North-West Africa!

The whale, which is known as MN104 in the catalogue, has been photographed on the whale watching tours here off Húsavík on the 19th and 25th of June 2008 and it was discovered that the same whale has also been identified by Simon Berrow from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group on a research trip to the Cape Verde Islands on 3rd of March 2006.

This is great news as it is the first humpback whale from Skjálfandi Bay that has been matched to a breeding ground close to the equator and it is just another example of how useful photo-identification can be.

The Whale Museum would like to encourage all whale watchers around Iceland to send pictures of the whales or dolphins that were seen on the trip. It is easiest to send them via e-mail [email protected] and the museum highly appreciates any contribution to the research program.

Information from Húsavík Whale Museum - www.whalemuseum.is

DA