We boarded the 9 am boat for whale watching (there would be one at noon and one at 3 pm on Sunday – although every company has different schedules for weekday and weekend)
趕早上9點賞鯨，約有 20 人登船，中午跟下午3點各有一班船。
It would take at least half an hour to reach the point where we were likely to spot whales, so the captain’s daughter was introducing “Humpback Whale” while we sailed.
上路嘍！不對，上海嘍！
要開離海岸至少半小時，所以船長的女兒在為大家介紹今天的主角，就是無齒之徒: 座頭鯨。
It was quite windy, and with so many special terms, I gave up listening and planned to do some research online later.
因為風很大，英文專有名詞太多，聽不懂，決定回家再找資料。
後面就是聖塔芭芭拉，依山面海，很漂亮！
The generic name of Humpback is Megaptera novaeangliae, from the Latin words mega-/μεγα, meaning "giant" and ptera/πτερα, meaning "wing", referring to their large flippers.
座頭鯨又名大翅鲸，台語俗名海崎，屬於鬚鯨亞目的哺乳動物 (大翅鯨亞科 - 大翅鯨屬)。它的學名 Megaptera novaeangliae，在拉丁文中 megas 是大的意思，pteron 是翅、鰭的意思。大翅指的是牠們的大胸鰭與大尾鰭。
A calf is 3-5 meter long at birth. The adults range from 11–16 meters (40–50 ft) in length and weigh approximately 30~50 tons; the females are slightly larger than males, as with all baleen whales. Usually, individuals live alone or in small groups that assemble and break up over the course of a few hours.
小 baby 約 3～5 公尺長，成鯨可達11至16 公尺（40 to 50 feet）。體重有 30~50 公噸，雌鯨略大。通常單獨一隻，或小群二至三隻，生殖和哺乳期會聚集至 12 ～ 15 隻一群。
Groups of 2 to 20 males typically gather around a female and exhibit a variety of behaviors in order to establish dominance - competitive group. It may last several hours, and the group size may change as unsuccessful males retreat and others join the competition. Techniques used include breaching, spy-hopping, tail-slapping, flipper-slapping, etc.
Spyhopping: the whale pokes its head out of the water for up to 30 seconds to take a look around.
當雄鯨尋求配偶時，2 到20 隻雄鯨會包圍著一隻雌鯨 - 雄性之間的競爭。競爭會持續幾小時，競逐失敗的會自動游離，新的競爭者會加入，最後剩下者贏得芳心。
Females typically breed every 2 or 3 years. The gestation period is 12 months (some say 10 months???). Humpback whales can live more than 40 years.
網路上的資料有的說雌鯨懷孕期12個月 (有的說 10 個月)，每次生 1 胎，哺育幼鯨 10 ～ 11 個月。幼鯨斷乳時身長 8～9 公尺, 母鯨生殖間隔為兩年或兩年以上。壽命可長達 40 年以上。
Humpbacks can song:
Both male and female humpbacks can produce sounds, however only the males produce the long, loud, and complex songs. Each song varies in amplitude and frequency and usually lasts from 10 to 20 minutes. Songs may be repeated continuously for several hours.
The purpose of the song is not yet certain, although it may be used in mating. However, songs have also been observed while not in the presence of potential mates; they are probably important as a more general communication tool.
雄雌座頭鯨會發出聲音，但是只有雄鯨會唱 - 有多種複雜聲音，類似「唱歌」，所以有人認為牠們的叫聲是用來求偶。但也有研究說當有其他雄鯨在時也會唱歌。歌的音量與頻率不同，一首歌可以 10 到 20 分鐘長，牠們有時會重複一些歌，唱好幾個小時。
* The body is black on the dorsal (upper) side, and mottled black & white on the ventral (under) side.
座頭鯨有明顯駝峰的厚實身軀，以及黝黑的上半部，下腹至尾鰭則黑白相間。
This black-and-white color pattern, extending from ventral to the fluke, is unique to each individual whale, like a fingerprint.
尾鰭的黑白斑紋就如同人的指紋一般，可用來辨識每隻座頭鯨。
Humpback has huge, mottled white flipper with rough wavy edges that is up to 1/3 of its body length; this is the largest flipper of any whale. The tail flukes, which are lifted high before diving.
尾鰭約 4～5 公尺，可達身長三分之一，隨便擺動幾下，便可飛躍出水面。寬尾鰭為蝴蝶狀，具有波浪狀聳起不規則鋸齒狀邊緣，潛入水時，有時尾鰭也會露出水面。
* Humpback breathes air at the surface of the water through 2 blowholes located near the top of its head. The blow is a double stream of spray that rises 10-13 feet (3.1-4 m) above the surface of the water.
請欣賞淑宜拍攝的座頭鯨噴氣： 在長期潛游後噴氣會更高, 更頻繁。
(其他 breaching 檔案影片太大，無法上傳， sorry)
Humpback is gulper and its diet includes mostly of krill, small fish, herring, and capelin. During feeding, LARGE volumes of water and food are taken into its huge mouth because the pleated grooves in the throat expand. As the mouth closes, water is expelled through the baleen plates, trapping the food on the inside.
座頭鯨是非常積極的捕獵者，每天要吃一公頓的食物，攝食行為有時被描述為“ 狼吞虎咽 ”（gulper），因為牠們藉著擴張喉腹折來增加口腔的容積，張開大口一次吞下大量海水與食物，接著閉上嘴巴吐出水，而食物便會被鯨須擋住而留在口中。不過，牠們卻吞不下比棒球大的食物，捕食對象包括磷蝦、小群魚、浮游生物、鯡魚、胡瓜魚和毛鱗魚等。
Bubble net feeding technique is one of Humpback’s famous feeding methods, other methods including direct attack and stunning them by hitting the water with its pectoral fins or flukes.
- According to online research -
Bubble net feeding: a group (probably a dozen) of humpbacks blows bubbles while swimming in circles to create a ring of bubbles, which will encircle the fish. The fish is confined in an ever-tighter area as the humpbacks swim in smaller and smaller circles. Humpbacks then suddenly swim upward through the bubble net with mouths agape, swallowing thousands of fish in one gulp.
捕食的方法包括直接攻擊或者通過用鰭拍打海水而將獵物擊暈。
磷蝦和鯡魚會分散開來以躲避座頭鯨的捕食，座頭鯨則會利用一種分工合作的捕食方法，稱為水泡網捕獵法：一群 (大約 12 隻) 鯨魚在群魚的下方圍成一個大圈，迅速地游動，再利用牠們的噴水孔向上噴氣，形成水泡網，將獵物團團圍住；氣泡越圍越小，逼得群魚更密集。然後牠們會突然向上竄、張大口，一口吞下數以千計的魚。
The ring of bubbles can be up to 30 meters (100 ft) in diameter. Some whales blow the bubbles through their blowholes, some dive deeper to drive fish toward the surface, and others herd fish into the net.
水泡網的直徑可長達 30 米 (100 英尺)。 有些座頭鯨負責噴泡泡，有些座頭鯨潛入深處把魚兒往上趕，有些座頭鯨則把魚兒趕入水泡網，各司其職。
* Humpback whales are active, acrobatic whales.
座頭鯨泳速不快，卻很活潑，常側躺豎起一側胸鰭，或露出尾鰭。
Tail lobbing: raising their huge flukes out of the water and then slapping it on the surface, making very loud sound. They also breach. It is speculated that these behaviors are important communicating techniques between humpbacks.
When we got on board, the captain said that some humpbacks circles around the boat yesterday afternoon. I am so jealous!
我們搭船時，船長說昨天下午那一班船，有座頭鯨游到船邊繞著船玩；好嫉妒呀！
They can throw themselves completely out of the water, called breaching, and then slapping the water as they come back down. “Humpback” describes the motion it makes as it arches its back out of the water in preparation for a dive.
座頭鯨以其躍出水面姿勢而聞名。之所以被稱為 Humpback，是因為其在飛躍出水前身體會形成大拱形。一次飛躍相當於抬起 500 個 70 公斤的人，每 40 秒可飛躍一次。
The captain comforted us that even though humpbacks were not circling us, it was also rare to be able to see them breach. However, I forgot my long lens, so I have an excuse to do whale watching again!
船長安慰我們說，雖然今天鯨魚沒到船邊玩，不過可以看到座頭鯨躍出水面，也是很難得的。可是我竟然忘了帶長鏡頭 (所以有藉口再去一次,， 哈!)
Humpback is the 5th largest whale; it feeds only in summer and gives birth in winter, when it fasts and lives off the fat reserves. Humpback is considered endangered in some countries, including the
座頭鯨是第五大鯨魚，只在夏天季捕食，體內儲存大量脂肪，作為長期遷徙所需。（很厚的油脂層（鯨油）為其經濟利益，用以燃燈和機器之用，因而遭人類獵殺。座頭鯨在 1970 年被國際捕鯨委員會列為稀有保育動物，禁止獵捕。）
* The Captain’s brother & 船長的 brother
A staff member said that he once saw the full body of a humpback breaching out of water. We only saw half of its body this time. What a wonderful job he has!
一位船員說他曾經看過座頭鯨幾乎整個身子都躍出水面，我們這次只看到一半身子；
他這份工作真棒！
還記得國中生物課教得分類嗎？
界 Kingdom
門 Phylum
綱 Class
目 Order (亞目Suborder)
科 Family (亞科Subfamily)
屬 Genus
種 Species
When I did research online, many kinds of whales were mentioned. I made a chart below – please correct if you see mistakes. New data keeps coming out so the chart will have to be updated constantly.
因為找資料時有提及其他鬚鯨 (rorqual) 動物，我都搞混了，就作了個表，因為新的研究資料一直出現，所以牠們的分類也不斷更被正，有的現在把藍鯨跟灰鯨與座頭鯨歸於同一屬。
不過有錯的話還請指正。
我們常聽的抹香鯨是有齒之徒，為齒鯨亞目中最大的鯨。
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