Tag: whale

Was Moby Dick an actual whale?

Illustrations from Moby-Dick, published in 1851 and authored by Herman Melville.

Illustrations from Moby-Dick, revealed in 1851 and authored by Herman Melville.

Do you know?

In 2011, maritime heritage archaeologists working with NOAA’s Workplace of Nationwide Marine Sanctuaries discovered the wreckage of Two Brothers positioned practically 600 miles northwest of Honolulu.

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, the allegorical novel about Captain Ahab’s search to kill an awesome white whale, was based mostly on real-life occasions. Born in 1819, writer Herman Melville grew up through the peak of American dominance of the whaling trade, roughly the interval between 1820 and the beginning of the Civil Conflict. Weaving up to date accounts and his personal experiences as a whaler, Melville created his American masterpiece.

The younger Melville was famously impressed by the story of George Pollard, the previous captain of the whaler Essex. Whereas on a two-year whaling expedition crisscrossing the Pacific, the Essex was rammed by a sperm whale. Rapidly abandoning ship and hundreds of miles from land, Pollard and his crew escaped in leaky lifeboats to start a horrific ordeal leading to illness, hunger, and cannibalism. One of many few to outlive, Pollard was given a second likelihood at captaining one other whaler, the Two Brothers. However after 18 months within the Pacific, Pollard ran the Two Brothers aground, sinking the ship in what’s now the Papahānaumokuākea Marine Nationwide Monument.

The identify of the whale was additionally impressed by real-life occasions. In 1839, Melville learn a narrative in a journal about an albino sperm whale famed for its lethal assaults on whaling ships attempting to hunt it down. This whale, killed off the coast of Chile close to Mocha Island, was referred to as Mocha Dick.

What’s the longest-lived marine mammal?

bowhead whale and calf

Bowhead whale and calf within the Arctic (Marine Mammal Allow 782-1719). The inset drawing reveals an 1884 illustration of a bowhead.

 Whales are the most important animals on Earth and stay longer than all different mammals within the up to date animal kingdom.

Whereas many ocean lovers can simply determine the enduring sperm whale, the charismatic humpback and the wily orca, not all are aware of the bowhead. In keeping with scientists, this colossal year-round Arctic dweller could stay 200-plus years. The bowhead’s lifespan will be the second-longest of all animals, topped solely by the 500-year span of a North Atlantic clam known as the ocean quahog.

The bowhead whale’s first declare to (scientific) fame was its humongous head, which homes the largest mouth of any animal—its extremely arched form provides the species its identify—and will comprise practically 25 toes of a mature male’s 65-foot size. The general size of the bowhead is lengthy sufficient to stretch throughout a four-lane freeway with loads of room on both facet.

Any bio of the bowhead wouldn’t be full with out mentioning its weight, which ranges from 75-100 tons, and its 1.6-foot-wide layer of insulating blubber, which makes it very “effectively suited” to its icy surroundings.

The bowhead additionally sports activities, at as much as 13 toes lengthy, the longest baleen (filter-feeding organ) of its dozen baleen-whale “cousins.” Bowheads additionally boast two blowholes, as do all baleen whales.

NOAA’s Nationwide Marine Fisheries Service has federal accountability for shielding marine mammals and threatened and endangered marine life. With an estimated inhabitants of roughly 10,000, the bowhead whale is listed as endangered below the Endangered Species Act and depleted below the Marine Mammal Safety Act.

What are barnacles?

Image of gooseneck barnacles found in the rocky tide pools of Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Photo credit: Elizabeth Weinberg, NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries

These aren’t dragon claws—they’re gooseneck barnacles! These filter feeders are discovered within the rocky tide swimming pools of Olympic Coast Nationwide Marine Sanctuary. Their shells are made up of a number of white plates that assist shield them from predators and from drying out.


Of the greater than 1,400 species of barnacles discovered on the earth’s waterways, the most typical ones are known as acorn barnacles. As anybody who’s ever maintained a vessel is aware of, eradicating barnacles requires some elbow grease (or a strain washer). That is why some boaters name them by their slang identify: “crusty foulers.”

How do barnacles persist with the undersides of vessels, to different sea life, to one another, and to just about something they arrive involved with? They secrete a fast-curing cement that’s among the many strongest pure glues recognized, with a tensile energy of 5,000 kilos per sq. inch and an adhesive energy of 22-60 kilos per sq. inch. The glue is so robust that researchers try to determine how it may be used commercially.

Barnacles like locations with a lot of exercise, like underwater volcanos and intertidal zones, the place they reside on sturdy objects like rocks, pilings, and buoys. Shifting objects like boat and ship hulls and whales are significantly susceptible to the pesky critters. Giant barnacle colonies trigger ships to tug and burn extra gas, resulting in vital financial and environmental prices. The U.S. Navy estimates that heavy barnacle progress on ships will increase weight and drag by as a lot as 60 p.c, leading to as a lot as a 40 p.c enhance in gas consumption!

Barnacles feed by feather-like appendages known as cirri. Because the cirri quickly lengthen and retract by the opening on the high of the barnacle, they comb the water for microscopic organisms. They shortly withdraw into their protecting shells in the event that they sense a possible risk. Barnacles secrete laborious calcium plates that utterly encase them. A white cone made up of six calcium plates kinds a circle across the crustacean. 4 extra plates type a “door” that the barnacle can open or shut, relying on the tide. When the tide goes out, the barnacle closes up store to preserve moisture. Because the tide is available in, a muscle opens the door so the feathery cirri can sift for meals.