Our Favourite Baleen Whales of Northern Cape Breton Nova Scotia

Humpback Whales: Always a Fan Favourite. Length 19 m./60 ft.

Scratchy the humpback can be seen eyeballing the Oshan

Scratchy the humpback can be seen eyeballing the Oshan

Minke Whales: A"Small" Baleen Whale. Length: 10.7 m./35 ft.

Minke's love to hang out in front of Meat Cove just west of Bay St. Lawrence.
Minke's love to hang out in front of Meat Cove just west of Bay St. Lawrence.

Fin Whales: One of The Fastest of the Baleens at 22 knots. Length: 24 m/79 ft.

Locally known as finbacks, fin whales are the most beautiful whales in the ocean and the second largest whale in the world
Locally known as finbacks, fin whales are the most beautiful whales in the ocean and the second largest whale in the world

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 we were blessed with a rare blue whale sighting in 2001.