Orbit
#0167
Orbit
is not, by any means, unfamiliar with the rich feeding grounds
of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Her first
recorded sighting was in 1979 and she has been seen every year
since. Stellwagen Bank offers an abundance of her favorite foods
such as sand lance (also known as sand eels). These are
a small baitfish near the bottom of the food chain. They
are only about 5-6 inches long, are a little wider than a pencil
and have an eel-like appearence. They burrow in the sandy
bottom of the bank to hide from predators. But Orbit and the other
humpbacks are a little too smart to fall for that trick. When
the sand lance have buried themselves, Orbit will rub one side
of her rostrum on the bottom to scare the fish out of their hiding
places. When a large enough quantity have come out from
hiding she will lunge forward engulfing the fish, water and sediment.
She uses her baleen to strain out her dinner. This
type of bottom-feeding can leave a good-sized (and visible) scar
on her rostrum. Orbit learned this feeding technique from
her mother many years ago, and she now teaches her calves.
Orbit
is a very productive and successful mother. She has given
birth to at least eight calves (See Orbit's Family Tree). She
finally became a grandmother in 1992 when her youngest known daughter,
Isthmus, gave birth to Kayak at the tender age of six. Isthmus
has had three more calves since.
Orbit
has a few distinctive marks on her fluke. On the left fluke
you can see several black spots which appear to be orbiting each
other. On the right fluke along the leading edge is a long black
line.
Orbit's
Family Tree
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Orbit-
F ---
fs: 1979
|
Tendril-
M
yob: 1984
Isthmus-
F ----
yob: 1986
no name
yob: 1989
Division-
F
yob: 1991
no name
yob: 1993
Vertex
yob: 1995
Deflection
yob: 1997
no name
yob: 2000
|
Kayak
yob: 1992
Ash
yob: 1996
Basmati
yob: 1998
no name
yob: 2000
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