Observations - Blue Whale
Blue Whale images provided by Bob McPherson, taken near Bridgewater, south-west Victoria. These images were mainly taken from land using a telephoto lens.
This specie of Blue whale is known as the Pygmy Blue Whale Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda. It has an average length of 22 metres and occurs only in the Southern Hemisphere and generally north of the Antarctic convergence (lat. 55o-60oS).
The Pygmy Blue Whale is found in the south-west Victoria on the continental shelf between Cape Otway, Victoria to Robe, South Australia. Sightings occur from November through to May and are associated with feeding on krill Nyctiphanes australis which form surface swarms in response to predictable wind forced upwelling of cool nutrient rich water named the Bonney Upwelling.
