ザトウクジラ, Megaptera novaeangliae
- 和名: ザトウクジラ, English: Humpback whale, Espanol: Yubarta, Binomial name: Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781)
- 哺乳綱 > 鯨偶蹄目 > ナガスクジラ科 > ザトウクジラ属 > ザトウクジラ
- Class: Mammalia > Subclass: Eutheria > Order: Cetartiodactyla[a] > (unranked): Cetacea > (unranked): Mysticeti > Family: Balaenopteridae > Genus: Megaptera (Gray, 1846) > Species: M. novaeangliae
サンタ・フェ島近海のザトウクジラ, Humpback whale in the sea near Santa Fe Island
桟橋からタブボートに乗り込み、向こうに見える小形ボート（定員20人？）に乗り移った。
We got on a tugboat and transferred to the small boat (capacity of 20?) over there.
(Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador, 07:49, 07:54, September 14, 2015, FinePix F30)
船に乗って約2時間経過、右側にSanta Fe島が見えてきた。海面上をウミツバメが飛んでいた。突然、ガイドが”Whale!”と叫んだ。えっ？鯨？船室から急いでデッキに出て見た。残念、鯨はもう潜ってしまった。乗客は全員デッキに出てまた浮上しないか待った。あっ、浮上した。確かに鯨の背びれが見えた。
It passed for about two hours on the boat. The Santa-Fe Island was then visible on the right side. A Storm petrel was flying on the sea surface. The guide cried with “Whale!” suddenly. Oh? Is there a whale? We went out of the cabin hastily on the deck and looked at the sea surface. Regret, the whale had already sunk. All the passengers waited on the deck expecting the whale to float again. Oh, the whale surfaced. I surely saw the dorsal fin of the whale.
(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 10:05, 10:07, September 14, 2015, D810)
あれっ、2頭いるようだ。鯨はまた潜った。どこに浮上するか分からない。また浮上した、船とSanta Fe島の間を泳いでいる、確かに2頭の背びれが見える。大きさが違うので親子だろうか？
“Hey, there seem to be two of them.” The whale sank again. We could not see where the whale would surface. “The whales have surfaced again and were swimming between our boat and the Santa-Fe Island.” “I surely see two dorsal fins. Are they parent and child because the size is different?”
(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 10:07, 10:11, September 14, 2015, D810)
鯨が浮上した直後の頭部の写真を撮りたかったが、どこに浮上するか分からないので撮れなかった。
I wanted to take photos of the head just after the whale surfaced, but could not because I could not see where the whale would surface.
(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 10:11, September 14, 2015, D810)
鯨が潜る時、その尾びれが見えた。尾びれの模様は個体識別のデータになる。尾びれの特徴から、このクジラはザトウクジラではないだろうか。
When the whale sank I saw the tail fin. The pattern of the tail fin is a data of individual identification. From the characteristic of the tail fin this whale may be Humpback whale.
(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 10:11, September 14, 2015, D810)
先ほど潜ってから約8分後、また鯨が船の近くに浮上した。鯨の頭部に近い部分が見えた。2頭いるが近いので望遠レンズでは画面をはみ出す。
The whale surfaced near our boat again after about 8 minutes from the last time. I could see the part which was near the head of the whale. There are two of them, but they protrude to the outside of the frame of the photo taken by the telephoto lens because they are very close to our boat.
(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 10:19, 10:21, September 14, 2015, D810)
先ほど潜ってから約6分後、今度は鯨が船の左側に浮上した。そして潜水するとき尾びれが見えた。この後まもなく船はSanta Fe島に接近したので鯨ともお別れした。
The whale surfaced this time on the left of the boat about 6 minutes after the last time. I could see the tail fin when it sank again. We said goodbye to the whale because the boat approached the Santa Fe Island soon after this time.
(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 10:27, September 14, 2015, D810)