About 50 short-finned pilot whales were spotted off the Port of Hualien on Thursday last week, marking an early sighting of the rare species in the region compared with past years, a local whale-watching boat company said.
Turumoan Co said its whale-watching boat carrying 50 tourists encountered about eight short-finned pilot whales after it departed at 8:30am on Thursday.
The boat later on another trip scheduled at 10:30am spotted about 50 short-finned pilot whales near the entrance of the port.
Photo courtesy of the Turumoan Company
The company said short-finned pilot whales usually swim with their family and have a close relationship with their relatives, adding that they also often pop up in their dozens or more in waters off eastern Taiwan.
Short-finned pilot whales are not frequently seen by the company’s boats compared with long-snouted spinner dolphins or Risso’s dolphins, which are more commonly spotted in the waters around Hualien County, it said.
Company records showed the company had only six excursions that spotted short-finned pilot whales throughout last year, which amounted to an annual sighting rate of only 0.8 percent.
While the first sighting last year occurred in August, this year’s first sighting in late May is significant for ecological reasons, particularly as the whale population was spotted in two consecutive excursions, the company said.
Short-finned pilot whales mainly feed on cephalopods such as squid and cuttlefish and usually inhabit deeper waters, it said, adding that the waters off the county are a favorable environment for various whale activities due to its depth and the Kuroshio Current.
It added that its staff has taken photos of the dorsal fins of the whales for comparison with images captured over the past few years to help identify if the group had appeared in the same waters before, it said.
Short-finned pilot whales are classified as blackfish, belonging to the toothed whale suborder and the dolphin family.
Adult pilot whales can reach 4m to 6m in length and 3 tonnes in weight, with a low, broad dorsal fin and dark gray or black body colors.
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