Humpback whale barnacles

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The moment a diver came face to face with a humpback whale.

The common "acorn" barnacle are found on nearly all humpback whales. Worldwide distribution. The barnacles settle on the edge of the pectoral flippers, the flukes and the chin and genital areas. The accepted scientific wisdom at the moment is that these barnacles have a one year life cycle, attaching themselves to the whale on the warm water wintering grounds, growing in the cold feeding grounds, then falling off when the whales return to the warm wintering grounds. These examples are fairly…

barnacles on pectoral fin of a Humpback Whale

Our team swims with whales around the world. But the Kingdom of Tonga is something extraordinary. Only here, you can meet face-to-face with 15-meter humpback whales – and they won't go anywhere. They circle you, look at you, wave their fins, hit tails, poke noses at you. And they sing! You can even hear Whale's songs from the beach.

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If you look closely at a photo of a southern right whale (Eubalaena australis), you’ll see that few animals accessorize quite like they do. Their crusty white ‘bonnet’ (which looks more like a must…

Aimee Jan 💧AJ on Instagram: “Have you ever seen this many Barnacles on a whale calf’s face! Poor little fella #cutethough 💙 @whalesharkdive”

Humpback Whale - Barnacles

The majestic humpback whale 🐋 We can post your photos in our account, follow the link in our bi