Apex the Humpback Whale

 Her Story

When Apex was first sighted in 1982, she was already a large adult, a minimum of 4 or 5 years old.  Her mother is not known. Apex was last sighted in 2014.  Apex was named for the nick in her dorsal fin (on her back) that forms a peak or apex.  She has ten calves (family tree below) and her first known calf, Shark has nine calves of her own.  Shark made Apex a grandmother in 1991.  Apex is still very active and provides whale watchers with a lot of action.  Apex was sighted in 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

A sighting of Apex.  On September 3, 2003 our boat left the pier and 40 minutes later sailed into the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.  We were delighted when we spied Apex and what a show she provided a boat full of people.  She began lobtailing close to the boat and this is the best way to identify an individual whale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why? Lobtailing is hitting the tail on the water and seeing the tail from many angles will always provide a good photo for viewing the patterns that basically stay the same for the life of the whale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Apex is feeding, she drags across the surface of the water attracting birds that eat the same fish as Apex.  The baleen in her mouth is a filtering system to separate the fish from the salt water.

 

Apex’s Family Tree

 

Calves	Year of Birth	Grandcalves
Shark	1983	Nine by Shark
Icicle	1988
Clamp	1990
Wicket	1992
Killick	1996
Libra	1999
Unnamed	2002
Unnamed	2004
Unnamed	2006
Unnamed	2009