Get to know your whales & dolphins in Plettenberg Bay
The Southern Cape coastline is home to many different species of whales and dolphins, and Plettenberg Bay is home to the largest variety of different species throughout the year.
It is an exhilarating experience to spot one of these fine creatures, but knowing which species it is can be difficult as each breed is classified in various ways.
The following information gives you a breakdown so that you can easily identify the species you have spotted:
Mysticeti – Baleen Whales
Baleen whales range in size from the 6 m and 3000 kg pygmy right whale to the 31 m and 190-ton blue whale, the largest known animal to have ever existed. Baleen whales use their baleen plates to filter out food from the water by either lunge-feeding or skim-feeding. Baleen whales have two blowholes. They have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water.
The Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
The Humpback is one of the most well-studied species of baleen whale and occurs worldwide in all ocean basins. These whales are migratory and typically follow the usual baleen whale paradigm of moving between summer feeding grounds in high latitude regions and winter breeding grounds in low latitude regions. The humpback whales seen off Plettenberg Bay occur along the east coast of Africa, with breeding grounds off Mozambique, Madagascar, and Tanzania where they travel to during the winter months. This eastward migration starts around June where the whales come to mate and breed in the warmer, shallow waters. After winter the whales migrate south to high latitude feeding grounds in the Southern Ocean, usually around Antarctica, for the summer months, where they feed almost exclusively on Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba).
Photo: Melissa Nel
Photo: Melissa Nel
Photo: Cameron Reeder
The Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis)
Southern Right Whales are easily recognizable with no dorsal fin, broad and squarish black flippers, a black stocky body, and a distinctive head with a large mouth which appears to be upside down, and white wart-like callosities. Though it can be difficult to see the body of the whale under the water, an identifying feature of the whale is a V-shaped blow. Southern Right Whales start arriving along the South African coast around June and we will be graced with their presence until November. They spend these months in our near-shore coastal waters mating and breeding, before migrating further south to feed on krill in the colder waters. Their name derives from the fact that they were the ‘right’ whale to hunt during years of extensive whale hunting due to their high yield of oil from blubber. Fortunately, as of 2008, this species has been classified as Least Concern as the population has been increasing in number after the ban on whaling in 1935. In South Africa, extensive research has been done on the Southern Right Whale during their time spent in nearshore coastal waters, and the callosities on the heads of these whales have been used to identify specific individuals. From this, it has been seen that Southern Right Whales calve every 3-5 years after a 12-13 month gestation period. Southern Right Whales are a fantastic species to watch from land as well as from the sea as they come very close to shore and spend a lot of time lying on the surface of the water (logging).
Photo: Melissa Nel
Photo: Melissa Nel
The Bryde’s Whale (Balaenoptera brydei)
Bryde’s whales are resident in South African coastal waters and can be seen in Plettenberg Bay all year round. Bryde’s whales are dark grey dorsally with a paler grey-white underside (countershading). They have a small, sickle-shaped dorsal fin that is situated 2/3rds of the way down the body. They reach lengths of 13 – 14 m and weigh around 20 tons. They are generally solitary animals (except cows and calves), but large aggregations of 10 – 20 individuals can form during feeding. They feed mostly on small pelagic shoaling fish such as sardine and anchovy, and unlike most other whale species, they feed throughout the year.
Photo: Melissa Nel
Odontocetes – Toothed Whales
This group includes dolphins, porpoises, and all other whales possessing teeth and only one blowhole. Toothed whales’ range in size from the 1.4 m and 54 kg vaquita to the 20 m and 55-ton sperm whale. They have well-developed hearing, that is well adapted for both air and water, so much so that some can survive even if they are blind.
Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus)
The species of dolphin is seen most frequently in Plettenberg Bay. Bottlenose dolphins got the name from their short beak and can grow up to 2.5m in length and weigh up to 275kg. They can live to 40 years or older and the average group size is 20-80 animals, however, groups of 200-500 have been recorded in Plettenberg Bay. Bottlenose dolphins are protected in South African waters and are listed as least concerned on the red list. Although not an endangered species, there are a number of human-induced threats to Bottlenose dolphins. These threats come in various forms, from entanglement and drowning in fishing and shark exclusion nets to a build-up of toxins in their bodies from agricultural run-off and pollution. Their natural enemies are sharks and Orcas (Killer whales). Bottlenose dolphins are the most commonly caught species for aquariums.
Photo: Melissa Nel
Photo: Kade Howorth
Humpback Dolphin (Sousa plumbea)
Although shy and somewhat elusive, the Indian Ocean humpback dolphin is commonly sighted in Plettenberg Bay’s nearshore waters. These dolphins can often be seen swimming along the Keurbooms and Robberg beaches, alone or in small groups of between 2 and 15 individuals. Humpback dolphins can be readily distinguished from other dolphins by the characteristic fleshy hump beneath their dorsal fin, as well as their unique surfacing behaviour of breaking the surface of the water with their snouts, or rostrums, first as they surface to breathe. These dolphins occur along South Africa’s southern and eastern coasts and are found in shallow waters of less than 25 m in depth. Unfortunately, their preference for these inshore waters makes them more vulnerable to anthropogenic threats and the species has recently been listed as Endangered in South African waters, with a likely population size of only 500 individuals.
Common Dolphin
Off Southern Africa two species of common dolphin can be found, long-beaked (Delphinus capensis) and short-beaked (Delphinus delphis). Until fairly recently, both were considered to be the same species with great variation in appearance, but due to many years of research, are now treated as separate species. In Plettenberg Bay common dolphins (long-beaked) can be seen throughout the year, but predominantly in summer and early autumn. Their presence in the bay has been related to the seasonal movements of their prey (mainly sardine and anchovy). Both long and short-beaked common dolphins are easy to distinguish from other dolphins by the ‘hourglass’ marking on the side. This is a golden-yellow colour nearest the head and light grey towards the tail. They are dark grey dorsally (on the back) and pale underneath (belly). They reach lengths of 2.2 m (females) to 2.5 m (males) in length and can weigh up to 140 kg. They have a gestation period of around 11 months and calves are approximately 1m at birth. School sizes can range from 1 – 10 000 individuals, but the average group size is around 600. They can travel at high speeds for extended periods of time and regularly bow ride boats and ships.
For further information visit the Ocean Blue website.
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