Lately there have been more Bryde’s whales moving into the ocean zone off Costa Adeje in Tenerife. This marks the changing of the season as the cooler autumn seas change the marine environment. This brings more food into the area for these 12-16 meter long baleen whales. Over the past week we have encountered over 6 Bryde’s whales on our tours.

Bryde’s whales, also called the ‘Tropical Whale’ are one of the least studied and understood of the baleen whales. This is largely due to their life history as they do not migrate in large numbers to feeding/breeding areas. They tend to move within their hunting grounds in tropical and temperate seas. So large aggregations are rare and thus studying their habits is more challenging.

While observing this Bryde’s whale, the boat idle, engine off, this whale changed direction and swam right under the boat! Captain John was quick to put the GoPro camera in the water and capture some wonderful video of the whale as it swam under our boat. As the whale turns on its side (presumably to look up at the boat) its ventral side is exposed where we can see clearly one genital slit on the lower abdomen. This is a male whale – females have 3 slits – 2 for mammies and 1 genital slit).

We are hopeful that this autumn change continues with more larger baleen whales and other species of dolphins becoming more frequent. Common dolphins have also been more frequently observed on the tours over the past week. Fingers crossed for lots of amazing species to enjoy exploring Costa Adeje with our guests in the coming weeks!