Sperm whales spotted in local waters
(CNS): The Department of Environment has confirmed that two whales, a mother and calf, spotted recently and videoed by a Red Sail crew were sperm whales. “DoE has reached out to our regional partners and we can confirm that this video is of a beautiful mother sperm whale and her baby,” the department stated in a social media post.
Red Sail said it was very exciting news. “We are hopeful to see more incredible sightings around our islands as the waters remain calm during this global pandemic,” the crew said, as they thanked the DoE for identifying the species.
Sperm whales are rarely sighted in Cayman waters. According to the National Geographic magazine, they have the largest brain of any creature known to have lived on Earth. They can dive as deep as 3,280 feet in search of food and can hold their breath for up to 90 minutes.
The DoE is encouraging everyone to send in any pictures, video or details of sightings of any marine mammals to DoE@gov.ky for the database.
Category: Marine Environment, Science & Nature
Looks like they were having a whale of a time
I was lucky to see this whale in June, 5-10 miles off the north sound. We thought it was driftwood from a distance and headed toward it, then it exhaled sending its blow up into the air. Beautiful creature.
Is the lack of cruise ships in the Ocean a possible cause for this?
i doubt the local whale colonies know or would care about human diseases or any small variance in our surface ship/cruise traffic. They just dive, eat squid, and make more whales when they can.
They were talking about the absence of ships for heavens sake.
We still have many cargo ships and fuel freighters regularly coming in and out and transiting our area. There have always been Sperm whales in our waters – long before humans. There is no causality between a singular video, long term whale populations, and what has so far been a very brief change in cruise ship frequency. ie even 5 ships to zero is not a huge shift when applied to an entire sea of habitat. I’m not a huge fan of cruise ships either, but I don’t think they are so evil to be repelling whales by towing underwater sonar arrays.
I wish I saw them!!
Not as tasty as turtle.
Cayman is so special. Even the whales want to come in.
But i hear green iguana tastes the best.
Where is the Cayman Trench?
South
9 dislikes- I don’t live there and was curious. Would like to if I ever get down.
I see them every year without fail.
Where do you see them?
Although reported sightings and video might be scarce, the Cayman Trench is definitely Sperm whale country…always has been!
Except that’s off the south coast, these were to the north. No great distance for a whale you say? That’s the point. Cayman – the entire Caribbean – is ‘occasional’ sperm whale country & always has been. (Not just the trench.)
You and NatGeo seem very certain about sperm whale populations and areas of distribution, based on what data and studies exactly? The thumb clicker count of a single random Red Sail sighting on a flat calm day? Our fishing community make regular sightings of whales and porpoises offshore and don’t normally report them or take video. There is no local fluke database, or naming. None of us normally inhabit their world – or transit it for very long, and there are no paid research studies being commissioned to study any of it. For creatures with 90 minutes of dive time to a depth of 3280ft…good luck taking a clicker survey.