The Southern Right Whale

Eubalaena australis

Distinguishing Features: Smooth back without a dorsal fin. Huge head with light-coloured patches of thickened skin ('callosities') on the chin, lower lips, upper jaw and near the eyes and the blowholes.

Length: Adults up to 18m, with females larger than males. Calves 5-6m at birth.

Weight: Average 55,000 kg; maximum 96,000 kg. Calves about 2,000 kg.

Profile: Rotund body. The head is about one-quarter of the length of the body. Extremely arched upper jaw, and a bowed lower jaw. The flippers (pectoral fins) are widely splayed with prominent ridges which trace the bone structure. The tail (flukes) has very pointed tips, a smooth rear edge with an indentation in the centre (median notch).

Markings: The adults are basically black with white to yellowish patterns on the head, and irregular splotches of white around the navel. Calves are a lighter colour than the adults.

Social Unit: Along our eastern coastline, the most common sighting is of lone whales or mother and calf pairs. Sometimes three or four animals have been seen together for a few hours but they separated and travelled in opposite directions.

Vocalisations: The most common right whale vocalisations recorded on hydrophones (underwater microphones) are deep moans, pulses and belchlike sounds. Sometimes the hydrophones pick up the clacking sound produced by the flexible baleen plates bumping against each other when the whale is forcing water out of its mouth.

Surface Behaviour: The blow (a cloud of vapour produced by condensation when the whale exhales) of the southern right whale is a bushy, V-shaped fan of mist up to 5m tall. The surface activities of the southern right whale include:

Breaching: leaping clear of the water, spinning and then landing with a huge splash.

Lobtailing: raising the tail and then crashing it down

Flipper slapping: raising a flipper and slapping it on the water

Headstanding: a vertical position with tail held high in the air.

 

Feeding: Instead of teeth, the southern right whale has baleen which it uses to catch its prey. There are up to 500 yellowish-grey coloured baleen plates rooted in the top jaw, and the longest plate in an adult is about 2.5m long. The baleen is constructed of material much like fingernails and claws. The outer edge of the baleen is smooth, and the inner edge is covered with dark coloured bristles. Southern right whales skim-feed near the surface: swimming with the mouth open through swarms of tiny crustaceans, and as the water pours out through the baleen plates, the food is trapped in the bristles.

Distribution and Migration: The southern right whales migrate thousands of kilometres between their summer and winter habitats. During summer they are spread throughout temperate and subantarctic waters which are the main feeding grounds. Late autumn they move north to their breeding grounds and nurseries in warmer waters around continents and islands. It is during the winter months that these whales are seen from headlands along our coastline. The most northerly sighting has been Coffs Harbour, with a recent unconfirmed report in Moreton Bay. In springtime these whales return to the cool southern waters.

Photo-Identification of Individual Southern Right Whales: The position and shape of each of the thickened patches of skin on the head is unique to each whale. Photographs of the head allows researchers to identify each animal and to keep track of the animal over the years.