San Francisco Whale Watching

What Types of Whales Can I See Near San Francisco?

Here are the common types of whales to see in San Francisco and nearby areas.

Gray Whales 

The Gray Whale is also known by other names – gray back and devilfish. A Gray Whale has short baleen, which the baleen whales have inside their mouths as their filter-feeding system. The baleen whales have 14 species that include Gray, Minke, Humpback, Right, Fin, and Blue Whales. Baleen whales are generally larger than whales with teeth, except for the Sperm Whale.

Gray Whales have short baleen, no dorsal fin, and a smaller head than most baleen whales. They have 9 to 13 knuckles or bumps from the back midpoint to the tail flukes and are a grayish color. Between the adult male and female, the latter is slightly bigger. 

Gray Whales feed on polychaete tubeworms, tube-dwelling amphipods, and mysids. These are found in the northern parts of their reach. They are also known to feed on baitfish, red crabs, megalops, cephalopods. Also eggs and larvae of herring, mobile amphipods, and crab larvae form part of their diet. The lifespan of a Gray Whale is about 40 years.

Most Gray Whales in some locations show curiosity toward boats. Gray whales due to their numbers are the focus of whale watching near San Francisco. They are also a major component of ecotourism along North America’s west coast. Gray Whales travel between 5,000 and 7,000 miles, each way on their annual migration. It is also one of the longest migrations for any mammal.

Blue Whales 

Blue Whales are the largest creatures that have ever lived on our planet. They are bigger than the Patagotitan mayorum the largest known titanosuar. Which has an estimated length of 37 meters and weight of around 70 tons. Blue Whales usually grow 34 meters long and weigh up to 200 tons. The Blue Whale’s tongue alone can be as heavy as an elephant.     

A Blue Whale has a long, tapered body with broad, triangular flukes at the end. It has a wide, flat head. With a spotty blue-gray color when seen on the surface, but it displays its true blue color underwater. The underbelly of a Blue Whale has a yellowish hue created by the millions of microorganisms that dwell in their skin. The female Blue Whales are slightly bigger than the males.

Blue Whales feed mostly on krill, which are tiny shrimplike creatures. A single adult Blue Whale can eat around 4 tons of krill per day during certain times each year. They have no trouble getting the tiny krill each time they swallow. As they filter their tiny food from the enormous amount of water. It’s all thanks to their baleen plates. These are connected to their upper jaws and made of tasseled plates of finger-like material. 

While whale watching, you may chance upon the Blue Whales and other baleen whales feeding. The pleated skin on their belly and throat expands to take in so much water. The massive tongue of a baleen whale pushes the water out through the fine overlapping plates. This filters out the tiny morsels of food. Thousands of tiny food particles will be left behind ready for swallowing. On average, Blue Whales live between 80 and 90 years. 

Most things that Blue Whales have are bigger than other species of animals. They have big hearts, colossal bodies, and are longer than most creatures that ever lived on earth. Blue Whales have gigantic tongues, and make the loudest sounds from any creature on earth. They feed on tiny krill, and they are pretty fast considering their weight. When cruising they usually go 8kph and can accelerate up to 32kph. Only when circumstances necessitate them to do so.

Orcas 

The Orcas or Killer Whales were originally named killer whales. This name was given by the sailors who saw them hunt other whales. Over time, the name was switched around. The species name of Killer Whale in Latin is Orcinus orca. Orcinus means “Kingdom of the Dead”. The whale order or Cetacea has several families. One of them is Delphinidae that includes the species of dolphins. You will get more than you expect when you go whale watching near San Francisco.

The term Cetacean came from the Greek word ketos, which means whale. The Cetacean order of sea animals includes whales, porpoises, and dolphins. All dolphins are considered whales. However, not all whales belong to the dolphin family. Think of dolphins as smaller whales. Killer Whales are the largest members of the dolphin family.   

Killer Whales have cylindrical bodies that look like a silkworm cocoon with tapered ends. The fusiform shape creates less drag when swimming. This is one of the more energy-efficient body shapes. The Orca is one of the toothed whales. The large teeth of the Killer Whales are interlocking and pointed. They only have one set of teeth that will no longer grow back once lost. Orcas have black and white colors, and a gray patch on the back called a cape or saddle. The adult male Orcas are bigger than the adult females.   

Killer Whales are on top of the food chain. They prefer to feed on squid, fish, and other meats that toothed whales usually consume. Killer Whales also target sea birds, seals, and even bigger whale species like Minke. Orcas are also known as the sole predators of great white sharks. They use their teeth to take hold of their prey and tear it into small chunks to make it easier to swallow. Orca males usually live between 30 and 60 years, while females can live between 50 and 80 years.

Whale watching near San Francisco can be worthwhile with Orcas around. They belong to the dolphin family so they have a playfulness while swimming together. They live in big pods of family members. The pod leader is a female Orca.

Fin Whales 

The Fin Whale, sits in the number two position among the largest whales. These can be found almost anywhere in the world. It has a noticeable fin on the back, close to its tail; hence, its name. Behind its dorsal fin is a well-defined ridge along its back, which earned it the nickname ‘razorback’. It is also known as common rorqual or Finback Whale. Its former names were Razorback Whale and Herring Whale.

Fin Whales have a V-shaped head and a streamlined body. It has a hooked, tall dorsal fin. They have a distinctive coloration and unusual features. Its sides and back have dark brownish-gray or black color, and its underside is white. The lower left jaw is black, and it is white on the lower right jaw. The tail flukes’ underside is white with a border in gray color. Markings are unique to each Fin Whale and can be used to identify each of them. Female Fin Whales are just slightly bigger than their male counterparts. The difference in size is hardly noticeable. You can try spotting them when you go whale watching near San Francisco.

Fin Whales can swim fast. They can be found in groups of two to seven whales. Fin whales usually feed on squid, sand lance, capelin, herring, and krill. They can filter their tiny food effectively with the help of their baleen plates. Fin Whales usually consume a maximum of 2 tons of food each day. They can live for about 80 to 90 years. 

Due to excessive whaling between the 19th and 20th centuries, most species of whales declined in numbers. The Fin Whales have recovered a lot better than the other species of whales. They are hard to catch due to their speed. The chances of seeing a group of Fin Whales are about 10 times higher than meeting other species of whales. Their behavior is similar to that of Blue Whales, and they are also almost as big.

Minke Whales 

The scientific name of Minke Whales, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, translates to “winged whale” and “sharp snout” respectively. The Minke Whales got their name from a person named Meincke, a Norwegian whaling spotter. He thought he spotted a Blue Whale when it was a Minke Whale that he saw.

Minke Whales have dark gray, brown or black coloring on their backs. The underside of the flippers of a Minke Whale has lighter color. It is the same with its belly. You will notice a diagonal white band on each flipper. Some Minke Whales’ backs have a light chevron on them. The color of the underside of the tail flukes may be white, blue-gray, or pale gray. The baleen plates come in cream, gray, or white color. Female Minke Whales are a bit bigger than the males. You will likely encounter more of them when you go whale watching near San Francisco.

Minke Whales feed on what is most abundant in the area they are currently in. The usual food sources of Minke Whales include small schooling fish and krill. However, you may find them feeding occasionally on big fish, such as haddock and mature arctic cod. Some of them feed on sand eel, copepods, and krill. They also feed on cod, mackerel, capelin, and salmon in the North Atlantic. Minke Whales live between 40 and 50 years.

Minke Whales are known for their inquisitiveness, and most of them don’t shy away from boats. You will likely view Minke Whales at close range more than the other baleen whales.

Humpback Whales 

Humpback Whales are well known for their haunting, evocative songs or calls. The byzantine sequences of cries, howls, and moans of Humpbacks can travel far and wide. The songs can go on for hours. The specific function of the songs that Humpbacks produce remains unknown. However, there are many theories about it. 

Male Humpbacks produce long songs, while the vocalizations that females make are shorter. Male Humpbacks usually produce such songs during mating season. It is speculated that they do that to attract females. It is also their way of challenging the other males. Another theory is that it acts as sonar, which helps the Humpback Whales navigate their way. They also snort, groan, and grunt to communicate with other Humpback Whales.

Even calves use low tones to whisper to their mothers and communicate. However, you may never see it often even if you regularly go whale watching near San Francisco.   

The Humpback’s dorsal fin appears as a bump or hump. The hump is more noticeable each time they rise from the water and bend their backs to dive. They got their name from that hump on their backs. The Humpback Whales are primarily black. Some of them have white markings on the underside of their tails, bellies, and pectoral fins. The adult female Humpback Whales are slightly bigger than the male Humpbacks.  

Humpback Whales usually feed on small invertebrates, small crustaceans, and krill. They also feed on mackerel, sardines, anchovies, and other small schools of fish. As a member of the baleen whale family, Humpbacks have no trouble filtering the tiny food. 

They also use a method known as bubble netting to trap the fish. They usually do it by diving into a school of fish and spiraling back to the surface while blowing air bubbles. The idea is to create confusion or distraction to trap the fish. The whales will then scoop and gulp down the trapped fish. This method is often carried out in groups. However, not all groups know how to use the bubble netting method. Humpback Whales have a lifespan between 80 and 90 years.

Humpback Whales have non-aggressive, gentle nature. It is very unlikely for them to inflict harm to humans. However, they are curious to the point that they don’t shy away from the boats. This makes whale watching near San Francisco more worth it. There are whale watching cruises in San Francisco that can take you near the whales.

Humpback whales tend to do some acrobatics, they sometimes breach and have hit boats. Breaching happens when a whale lifts its colossal body above the water and exposes 90% of its flesh. When it begins to land, it may fall on its back or side and create a gigantic splash. Imagine the spectacular view when you see it up close, but brace yourself and be ready to get wet.

Humpback Whales are many people’s favorite due to their exhilarating show.

Sperm Whales 

The head of the cachalot or Sperm Whale is filled with spermaceti, which means whale seed in Latin. Scientists believe that spermaceti may help regulate the whale’s buoyancy. Whalers once thought that the oily fluid in the head of a Sperm Whale was sperm. Scientists are still not clear about the exact function of the mysterious substance.  

There’s a common theory that spermaceti turns into a hardened wax when it is cold. This then enables the whale to modify its buoyancy. When that happens, the Sperm Whales can do a deep dive and rise without trouble. These gigantic mammals can hold their breaths for an hour and a half each time they do a deep dive. The spermaceti was once used as fuel for lamps and fine lubrication.    

Among the toothed whales, the Sperm Whales are the largest. They also have the largest brain among the creatures that ever lived. A whale watching tour will be truly satisfying when you see some Sperm Whales.

Sperm Whales are generally gray-colored with prune-like, wrinkled skin covering their submarine-shaped bodies. The huge square head of a Sperm Whale covers a third of its entire body. It has rudimentary upper teeth, which may not be visible. Its lower jaw holds 20 to 26 banana-shaped or conical teeth and each tooth weighs around 32 ounces or two pounds. Adult male Sperm Whales are bigger than their female counterpart.

To hunt for food, Sperm Whales usually take deep dives. The routine dives can last for 45 minutes and up to 2,000 feet deep. Sperm Whales are also capable of reaching depths of over 10,000. The Sperm Whales rise to the surface to breathe after having long, deep dives. They need time to recover that usually takes minutes before going in for another dive. 

Sperm Whales feed on skates, sharks, squid, octopuses, and fish that dwell in the deep parts of the ocean. They also eat colossal squids. You may want to take note that a Sperm Whale consumes about a ton of food or around 3% to 3.5% of its body weight in a single day. It can sometimes consume up to two tons of food in a day. Sperm Whales have an average lifespan of 60 years.

The novel Moby Dick made Sperm Whales quite famous. It was based on a tragic event during the time when whaling was still rampant. Sperm Whales were one of the most popular targets of whalers. Whaling is illegal in majority of countries today. Sperm Whales are relatively docile.