I wanted to thank all the students and adults who joined us on our trip to Jeffreys Ledge this morning. On the trip we were lucky enough to spot a beautiful Minke Whale and even came across a regular visitor to the Gulf of Maine, Fjord. During the trip all the students had very good questions and behaved very well. While passing around the replica teeth of an Orca and a Sperm Whale along with a piece of Fin Whale baleen a question I was asked about the name origins of the Sperm whale. In the excitement of the questions and whale spotting I forgot to answer. Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus was given that name because of an oily fluid in the head of the whale which whalers at one point believed was a large quantity of reproductive fluid, and thus the name. This fluid, when cold does harden is not what whalers once thought, and one theory is that it is used to alter its bouyancy while it dives to incredible depths in search of food.
Again thank you for a great trip and I hope to see all of you on future whale watching trips. Please don't forget to visit the great touch tank we have at the dock next to the Portsmouth Steamship Company.
Thank you
-Jason
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