A photograph of a flukeprint behind a humpback whale.
A flukeprint is clearly visible behind a humpback whale.

In marine biology, a flukeprint is a patch of calm water on the surface of the ocean, formed by the passing of a whale. Flukeprints may also be named by the word for them in the Inupiaq language, qala.[1]

As with other forms of animal tracks, flukeprints may be used in hunting, to follow whales that are invisible beneath the ocean surface, and to determine the size of an unseen whale.[1] They have also been used for similar purposes by scientists studying whales.[2]

Fluid dynamics researchers have proposed multiple mechanisms for the formation of flukeprints, including vortex shedding from the fluke of the whale, the action of surfactants on the surface of the water, and shear flow in the interaction between water waves and the current caused by the passing whale.[3][4]

References

  1. 1 2 Jeffries, Glen (April 25, 2017), "The Path of the Unseen Whale", Hakai Magazine
  2. ↑ Hanson, MB; Baird, RW; Ford, JKB; Hempelmann-Halos, J; Doornik, DM Van; Candy, JR; Emmons, CK; Schorr, GS; Gisborne, B; Ayres, KL; Wasser, SK; Balcomb, KC; Balcomb-Bartok, K; Sneva, JG; Ford, MJ (March 2010), "Species and stock identification of prey consumed by endangered southern resident killer whales in their summer range", Endangered Species Research, Inter-Research Science Center, 11: 69–82, doi:10.3354/esr00263
  3. ↑ Levy, R.; Uminsky, D.; Park, A.; Calambokidis, J. (May 2011), "A theory for the hydrodynamic origin of whale flukeprints", International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics, 46 (4): 616–626, Bibcode:2011IJNLM..46..616L, doi:10.1016/j.ijnonlinmec.2010.12.009
  4. ↑ Rousseaux, Germain; Uminsky, David; Levy, Rachel (August 2013), "Flukeprints of cetaceans and the corresponding shear flow phenomenon", Eighth International Symposium on Turbulence and Shear Flow Phenomena, pp. P11:1–P11:6, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.710.938
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