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Ubhejane In reply to Shadow-and-Flame-86 [2011-02-14 22:04:37 +0000 UTC]

there are a lot of transient killer whales in these waters - i suspect they are responsible for that lesion

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Shadow-and-Flame-86 In reply to Ubhejane [2011-02-14 22:27:32 +0000 UTC]

really? that sorta wound is pretty diagnostic of an old rope wound, I've seen a lot exactly like that. The indent on the leading edge, the line running down the fluke into the deep V on the trailing edge, where the rope bit in and restricted the growth... Orcas rake and can take chunks out but I've seen tons of injuries like this in humpies where rope was responsible, we use the rope wounds like this to help ID the whales on the east coast.

Orca marks are great for IDing whales too though, they can make a real mess of flukes, we had a whale called 'music' who was so called because of all the orca rake marks on her tail and body, she looked like a music score!

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