White southern right whale calf underwater, Eubalaena australis. About five per cent of southern right whales are born white due to a condition known as grey morphism and will gradually turn dark as they age. They are not albino (which is a complete lack of pigmentation). Sometimes referred to as "brindled", the white coloration is a recessive genetic trait and only lasts a few months. Typically, but not always, white calves will become much darker as they mature but will still be somewhat lighter than normal even as adults.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38434
White southern right whale calf underwater, Eubalaena australis. About five per cent of southern right whales are born white due to a condition known as grey morphism and will gradually turn dark as they age. They are not albino (which is a complete lack of pigmentation). Sometimes referred to as "brindled", the white coloration is a recessive genetic trait and only lasts a few months. Typically, but not always, white calves will become much darker as they mature but will still be somewhat lighter than normal even as adults.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38438
Courting pair of southern right whales underwater, Eubalaena australis. While the posture in this photo isn't quite mating, it is a courting behavior that often precedes mating. The male is below, upside down and trying to access the female belly-to-belly. However, the female does not want to mate, so she has positioned herself upside down at the surface so that the males in the courting group cannot reach her genital slit.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38446
Whale hair on the rostrum and chin of a southern right whale, sidelit by the setting sun. These individual hairs provide sensor information to the whale as it swims through ocean currents or touches the ocean bottom.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38331
Courting group of southern right whales, aerial photo. Mating may occur as a result of this courting and social behavior. The white whale seen here is a serious player named El Copulador (the copulator) and is often seen in mating and courting groups of southern right whales at Peninsula Valdes. His light coloration is an indication that he was a white calf, but he did not darken as he aged in the way most white southern right whale calves do.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38357
Blue whale, exhaling as it surfaces from a dive, aerial photo. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth, exceeding 100' in length and 200 tons in weight.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: Redondo Beach, California
Image ID: 25951
Blue whale and San Onofre Nuclear Power generating station, raising fluke prior to diving for food, fluking up, lifting its tail as it swims in the open ocean foraging for food.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: Dana Point, California
Image ID: 27337
A blue whale spouts at sunset. The blow, or spout, of a blue whale can reach 30 feet into the air. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to live on earth.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 02217
A blue whale eating krill. This blue whale is seen feeding and surfacing amid krill with its throat fully engorged with krill and water. It will push the water back out with its tongue, trapping the krill in its baleen which acts like a filter. Aerial photo, Baja California.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 05837
Aerial photo of blue whale near San Diego as it swims on its side turning and blows a bubble of air out of its blowhole. This enormous blue whale glides at the surface of the ocean, resting and breathing before it dives to feed on subsurface krill.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 39427
Aerial photo of blue whale near San Diego. This enormous blue whale glides at the surface of the ocean, resting and breathing before it dives to feed on subsurface krill.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 39428
Blue whale underwater with mouth full of krill, calf is partially seen below the mother. This incredible picture of a blue whale, the largest animal ever to inhabit earth, shows it swimming through the open ocean, a rare underwater view. Over 80' long and just a few feet from the camera, an extremely wide lens was used to photograph the entire enormous whale.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: California
Image ID: 27317
Blue whale, exhaling in a huge blow as it swims at the surface between deep dives. The blue whale's blow is a combination of water spray from around its blowhole and condensation from its warm breath.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 21253
Blue whale, exhaling in a huge blow as it swims at the surface between deep dives. The blue whale's blow is a combination of water spray from around its blowhole and condensation from its warm breath.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 34560