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Pilot Whales: Long-finned Globicephala melas.
Short-finned Globicephala macrorhynchus
Contributed by Rosemary Tully of Whakatane Bird Rescue.
Photos by Patrick Kavanagh.
Page sponsor is Whyte
Weddings Photography. Wedding Photographers at Ohope, Whakatane and
the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Pilot whales are on occasions seen from the shore; these are the whales
that sometime mass strand (Matata October 1990).
From the shoreline it is very hard to see if they are the short or long-finned
species. They are
not endangered.
They belong to the Delphinidae (dolphin) family.
They grow to 6.5 metres long and are mainly black or dark grey, have a
rounded head. The
fin is nearer the front of the body and is curved backwards.
The pilot whale has teeth and feeds on fish and squid etc.
They are travel in pods, from 10-50+. Sometimes
bottlenose dolphins are travelling with the pod.
The above photograph shows a pod of short-finned pilot whales travelling
at speed off the Whakatane coast.
© Ohope Beach.info 2003
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