The humpback whale.

• Position: Brief Article

Humpback whales are baleen whales that migrate seasonally to feed in the productive temperate waters of Alaska. Instead of teeth, baleen whales have a row of 400 fringed comb like plates lined on each side of their upper jaw. When a whale takes a big gulp (15,000 gallons!!) of combined water and food, the baleen acts like a strainer to sieve out the food. In Alaska. typical food for humpback whales is a small shrimp-like zooplankton, called krill, and schooling fish, such as herring, sandlance and capelin. Humpback whales can eat nearly a half a ton of food a day.

The whales that come to feed in the waters of Southeastern Alaska were first brought here by their mothers when they were less than a year old. These whales continue to return to these same waters every year.

Humpback whales are found every month of the year in Southeastern Alaska. with the highest overall numbers in August and the lowest numbers in February. The humpback whales that feed in Southeastern Alaska generally...