Every couple of months the Marine Ranger will produce a fact sheet to help you learn more about a particular animal that can be found in the Reserve.

| Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) | Oceanic Sunfish (Mola mola) | John Dory (Zeus faber) | Common Moon Jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) | Kelp forests | Grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) | Ballan Wrasse (Labrus bergylta) | Dead Men’s Fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) | Snake pipefish (Entelurus aequoreus) | Jewel Anemone (Corynactis viridis) | The Lumpsucker, lumpfish or sea hen (Cyclopterus lumpus) |

Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata)

Distribution: Minke whales have a world wide distribution and are found in tropical, temperate and polar seas. They can be spotted from Norway to France and in the Northern North sea, where they can be seen in small numbers mainly from May to October.

Description: Minke whales are the most abundant of the baleen whales as well as the smallest. The males range from 7-9.8m in length and the females from 7.5-11m! The head of a minke whale is slender, triangular and pointed. Their dorsal fin is situated 2/3rds along the back and is small, triangular and curved in shape. The head and body are dark in colour from grey to black with distinctive white markings on each flipper.

Feeding: The jaw of a baleen whale has approx. 300 short smooth baleen plates used to filter food from the water! The whales often ‘lunge feed’ where they lunge towards their prey at high speeds. Minke whales can reach speeds of 30km/hr! They feed on fish such as herring, cod, capelin, saithe, haddock, whiting and sand eels. In polar regions they feed on plankton or krill.

Reproduction: In the northern hemisphere reproduction takes place from October to March and gestation is about 10 months. Some whales migrate from polar feeding grounds to temperate water breeding grounds. Females normally give birth to a single calf but a very few have twins or triplets!

Behaviour: Minke whales can be seen in small groups or as solitary individuals but they may congregate in larger feeding groups. They also sometimes spy hop and breach.

Threats: During the 1930s minke whales were major targets of the whaling industry. In 1986 they were given protection from commercial whaling although in 1998 Norway resumed catching minke whales. Another concern is entanglement in fishing nets and traps.