Sowerby's beaked whale | Baleia de bico Sowerby - Mesoplodon bidens
|ENG| Scientific Name: Mesoplodon bidens (Sowerby, 1804) Common Name (UK, FR, PT, ES, DE): Sowerby's beaked whale. Baleine à bec de Sowerby. Baleia de bico sowerby. Zifio de sowerby. Sowerby-Zweizahnwal. Short Species description: The sowerby's beaked whale belongs to the suborder odontoceti and family Ziphiidae. They have a streamlined spindle-shaped body with a dark bluish-grey colour. They can also have on their body linear scarring from other individuals. Their dorsal fin
Northern bottlenose whale | Botinhoso - Hyperoodon ampullatus
|ENG| Scientific Name: Hyperoodon ampullatus (Forster, 1770) Common Name (UK, FR, PT, ES, DE): Northern bottlenose whale. Hyperoodon boréal. Botinhoso or grampa. Ballena nariz de botella norte. Entenwal. Short Species description: This species belongs to the group of beaked whales, suborder odontoceti and family Ziphiidae. Northern bottlenose whales are named after their long tube-like snout, distinctly separated from their melon-shaped forehead and the adult males develop a
Striped dolphin | Golfinho riscado - Stenella coeruleoalba
|ENG| Scientific Name: Stenella coeruleoalba (Meyen, 1833) Common Name (UK, FR, PT, ES, DE): Striped dolphin. Dauphin bleu et blanc. Golfinho riscado. Delfín listado. Blauweißer Delphin. Short Species description: The striped dolphin belongs to the suborder Odontoceti and to the delphinidae family. Can be confused with other dolphin species such as the common dolphin. This species can be identified by its characteristic color pattern - their body is dark grey with a pale grey
Fin whale | Baleia comum - Balaenoptera physalus
|ENG| Scientific Name: Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758) Common Name (UK, FR, PT, ES, DE): Fin whale. Rorqual commun. Baleia comum. Rorcual común. Finnwal Short Species description: The second biggest whale belongs to the suborder Mysticeti. Can be mistaken with other baleen whales. A fin whale has a sleek, streamlined body with a V-shaped head, with a tall, hooked dorsal fin, about two-thirds of the way back on the body. Fin whales have distinctive coloration: black or
Humpback whale | Baleia de bossa - Megaptera novaeangliae
|ENG| Scientific Name: Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781) Common Name (UK, FR, PT, ES, DE): Humpback whale. Baleine à bosse. Baleia de bossa ou Baleia corcunda. Ballena jorobada. Buckelwal Short Species description: This whale is a baleen whale, belonging to the mysticeti suborder. They are rarely mistaken with other species, due to their characteristic appearance and behavior. Typically, their body is dark grey/black with white color on their ventral, but differences ar
False killer whale | Falsa orca - Pseudorca crassidens
|ENG| Scientific Name: Pseudorca crassidens (Owen, 1846) Common Name (UK, FR, PT, ES, DE): False killer whale. Faux-orque. Falsa orca. Orca falsa. Kleiner Schwertwal Short Species description: False killer whales are so named because the shape of their skulls, not their external appearance, is similar to that of killer whales (IWC, 2021). Like the killer whales, this species belongs to the odontoceti suborder and the delphinidae family. These animals can reach to 6 meters lon
Blue whale | Baleia azul - Balaenoptera musculus
|ENG| Scientific Name: Balaenoptera musculus (Linnaeus, 1758) Common Name (UK, FR, PT, ES, DE): Blue whale. Rorqual bleu. Baleia azul. Ballena azul. Blauwal Short Species description: There are five subspecies of blue whale, belonging to the suborder mysticeti. They can be distinguished by location (Northern, Antarctic, Northern Indian Ocean, South Indian Ocean and Chile) and they also differ in size. The blue whales can reach up to 27 meters, however, it already registered a
Pilot whale | Baleia piloto - Globicephala sp.
|ENG| Scientific Name: (1) Globicephala macrorhynchus (Gray, 1846) ; (2) Globicephala melas (Traill, 1809) Common Name (UK, FR, PT, ES, DE): (1) Short-finned pilot whale. Globicéphale tropical. Baleia piloto de peitoral curta. Calderón de aletas cortas. Kurzflossen Grindwal (2) Long-finned pilot whale. Globicéphale commun. Baleia piloto de peitoral comprida. Calderón común. Grindwal Short Species description: Despite the common name, they belong to the dolphin family. There a
Sei whale | Baleia sardinheira - Balaenoptera borealis
|ENG| Scientific Name: Balaenoptera borealis (Lesson, 1828) Common Name (UK, FR, PT, ES, DE): Sei whale. Rorqual boréal. Baleia sardinheira. Rorcual del norte. Seiwal Short Species description: This species belongs to the suborder mysticeti and is easily mistaken with fin whale or bryde's whale. Sei whales have a tall, hooked dorsal fin located about two-thirds down their back. It is the third biggest whale, reaching 16 m and weigh as much as 27ton. The calves already born wi
|22092020| Our first fin whale of the season
|ENG| Ready for another adventure?! Today we went to see the animals in the south of #PicoIsland. Our first sighting was a group of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). The group was big, more than 20 animals but they were very dispersed. This species is resident in the Azores archipelago so we can see them all year. During the sighting of the bottlenose dolphins, the spotter let us know that there were some baleen whales close to Faial, but as soon as we start to head t