the pronounced scalloping
on the leading edge. (_Photos near West Indies by C. McCann (top) and H.
E. Winn (bottom)._)]

[Illustration: Figure 38.--A series showing the extreme variability in
dorsal fin shapes of humpback whales: (a) a small ridge, (b) slightly
falcate, (c) triangular with a pronounced hump, (d) slightly rounded,
(e) distinctly rounded, and (f) taller and more distinctly falcate.
(_Photos from northern West Indies by H. E. Winn (a, c, e) and C. McCann
(b); off Baja California by K. C. Balcomb (d); and off St. Augustine,
Fla. by D. K. Caldwell (f)._)]

[Illustration: Figure 39.--The humpback whale is the only large whale
species with a distinct dorsal fin which regularly raises its tail
flukes when beginning a long dive. When it does so, the scalloped
trailing edge is often visible (f, g, h). When the diving whale is seen
from the rear, the varying degree of white coloration on the undersides
of the flukes aids in identification (h). (_Photos from northern North
Atlantic by K. C. Balcomb (a-f), from West Indies by C. McCann (g), and
from off Massachusetts by W. A. Watkins (h)._)]

[Illustration: Figure 40.--Detail of the head of a humpback whale
harpooned off Japan. Note the knobs along the top of the head and on the
lower jaw, the rounded projection near the tip of the lower jaw and the
wide ventral grooves. The large mass of tissue to the left of the animal
is its tongue. In the inset photo from a Canadian whaling station, note
the baleen plates, less than 3 feet (0.9 m) long and dark olive green to
black in color. (_Photos by Japanese Whales Research Institute, courtesy
of H. Omura; and J. G. Mead (inset)._)]

[Illustration: Figure 41.--A humpback whale on the deck of a whaling
station in western Canada. All of the species' most distinctive
characteristics are evident in this photograph: (1) the hump and the
dorsal fin; (2) the knobs on the top of the snout; and (3) the long
flipper, with numerous barnacles attached to its leading edge. (_Photo
by G. C. Pike, courtesy of I. MacAskie._)]

[Illustration: Figure 42.--North Atlantic humpback whales have from 14
to 20 broad, widely spaced ventral grooves which extend about to the
navel. Those grooves remain good diagnostic characters for considerable
periods after the animal's death, as evidenced in the freshly killed
specimen from Newfoundland (top) and the badly decomposed stranded
animal from New Jersey (bottom). (_Photos from U.S. National Museum,