f sperm whales are all dark and more
flattened and even along the rear margin. Further the species can be
distinguished in the following ways:

HUMPBACK WHALE SPERM WHALE

BLOW

Projects upwards from center Projects obliquely forward
of head. Usually blows from left side of snout.
4-8 times (2-4 times in Usually blows many times
tropics) before diving. (20-50 or more) before diving.

HEAD

Raised area around blowholes, Blunted, long, smooth.
knobs on upper surface.

FLUKES

Often white underneath, Smooth, all black on rear
concaved and scalloped on margin.
rear margin, deeply notched.

FLIPPERS

Extremely long (to one-third Short; all black.
of body), white and scalloped
on leading edge.

DORSAL FIN (OR HUMP)

Triangular to falcate fin, Rounded hump, two-thirds
including a step or hump in back on back followed by
front of the dorsal fin; knuckles or crenulations.
smooth.

When they can be examined at close range, humpback whales can be easily
distinguished from all other large whale species with a dorsal fin by
the tuberosities or knobs on the head, by the long white flippers
scalloped on the leading edge, by the small distinctive dorsal fin, and
by their distinctive tail flukes.

Distribution

In the western North Atlantic, humpback whales are widely distributed
from north of Iceland, Disko Bay and west of Greenland, south to
Venezuela and around the tropical islands of the West Indies. They have
been reported from the central and eastern Gulf of Mexico. Summer ranges
extend at least from New England north to the pack ice, and feeding
concentrations may be found in any portion of this region. During
winter, humpback whales migrate southward to the shallow borderlands of
Bermuda, to the Bahamas, and to the West Indies to calve and mate.

Stranded Specimens

The most distinctive features of stranded humpback whales are 1) the
ventral grooves, 14-22 in number, very wide and extending to the navel;
2) the tuberosities of the snout and lower jaw, often the sites of
numerous barnacle colonies; 3) the long flippers (to nearly a third of
the total body length); and 4) the distinctive rounded projection near
the tip of the lower jaw.

If these c