Gold Coast whale watchers treated to splashy show from big mumma whale
WHALE watchers have captured the moment a whale performs a peculiar tail movement just off the shores of the Gold Coast
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SLASHING, slapping and breaching doesn’t sound like much fun for us — but it’s a good sign for the whale migration season.
Yesterday morning, Sea World Whale Watch tours captured photographs of a big mumma whale ‘tail slashing’ through the water just off the Seaway near Main Beach.
The female adult was enjoying some time out from open ocean with its calf, treating onlookers aboard the whale watching boat to a splashy show.
Sea World Whale Watch general manager David Robertson said a tail slash sequence is different to a slap, where a whale brings its tail up out of the water and down again at an angle perpendicular to the water’s surface.
“It’s a form of communication,” Mr Robertson said.
“A tail slap and fin slap is different to a tail slash or a breach, and I think they (the whales) can tell the difference.
“But no one really knows one hundred per cent. The trouble is you can’t ask the whales. It’s all guess work.”
Whale experts are predicting a bumper migration season for Humpbacks and the early activity is a positive sign for the species’ population.
“We saw 11 whales the other day (on a whale watching tour),” Mr Robertson said.
“The more the better. We reckon there will be a lot this year — over 30,000.”
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