Quick and Easy Whale Identification Key
Larger members of the Dolphin family (6-9 m)
Long Finned Pilot Whales(Globicephala melas)
Characteristics:
- Up to 6.5 meters
- All black except for “anchor-shaped” white pattern on stomach
- Round, high forhead (melon)
- Hooked dorsal fin, wide at base in males
- Long tail (2/3 of body length) with grey saddle patch
- Long boomerang-shaped pectoral fins
- Sometimes seen mixed with bottlenose dolphins
- Commonly strands on beaches in New Zealand
Killer Whale(Orcinus orca)
Characteristics:
- Distinct black and white pattern, white patch around eye
- Adult males have 2m tall, triangular dorsal fins
- Grey saddle patch behind dorsal fin
Whales (12-18 m)
Southern Right Whale(Eubalaena australis)
Characteristics:
- No dorsal fin or ridge
- Whitish callouses (callosities) on snout, chin, blowhole
- Callosities infested with parasites and barnacles
- Slow swimmer
- Arched jaw, teeth absent, baleen
Humpback Whale(Megaptera novaeangliae)
Characteristics:
- Small dorsal fin far on back with hump in front
- Knobs or bumps on head, jaws, flippers
- Pectoral fins long and white
- Folds or pleats under chin
- Underside of tail has white pattern
- No teeth, baleen plates
Sperm Whale(Physeter macrocephalus)
Characteristics:
- Blowhole on left side of head
- Large, squarish head, 1/3 of body
- Skin “wrinkled”
- Black, may have white lips
- Narrow underslung lower jaw
- Teeth only in lower jaw
- Usually seen resting at surface