Baleen Whales - of Northern Cape Breton Nova Scotia: the Humpback, Minke and Fin Whale.

Our Favourite Baleen Whales of Northern Cape Breton Nova Scotia

Baleen whales are commonly known as great whales, because of their size, or whalebone whales because of their filter feeding habits. These whales filter plankton, such as krill, through their large mouths in order to feed. Baleen whales do not have teeth; rather, the inside of the upper part of their jaws is lined with baleen/whalebone plates. These plates look like a large comb that goes across the whale's mouth and hangs down. While feeding, the whales press their tongue against the roof of the mouth in order to strain the plankton through the "comb" of baleen.

At Oshan Whale Watch we have three types of baleen whales which we see on a regular basis: fin whales, minkie whales and humpback whales. In fact, the whale in our banner (top) is the humpback whale Scratchy, who annually likes to use the Oshan as a scratching post. We have been known to see sei whales, right whales and grey whales, but on a less regular basis, and we were blessed with a rare blue whale sighting in 2001.