Ocean Watch

Monday, September 9, 1996

Whatever they're called,
it's great they're around

A couple of weeks ago, my friend sailed to Lanai for the weekend. When he returned, he told me about the channel crossing, the weather conditions and the performance of his new sails.

"Oh, and we saw a pod of pilot whales," he added.

I perked up. I'm interested in sailing, but mostly because it takes me to where the animals are.

"Pilot whales?"

"Well, maybe they were something else. We weren't sure. They were big and black with these roundish snouts. . . . Definitely not dolphins."

"How many?" I asked.

"About 50, I think. It was hard to tell. One was jumping up over and over. But there were a lot of others in the water."

"It was breaching?"

"Yes."

"Maybe they were false killer whales," I said.

"Could be," my friend agreed. "How can you tell the difference?"

Good question. These two animals are so similar that even the most seasoned whale watchers can confuse one for the other.

Both pilot whales and false killer whales belong to the dolphin family. These brawny, black dolphins are called whales because of their size, up to 16 feet long and weighing nearly two tons.

Another similarity between pilots and false killers is their tendency to live in herds ranging from a few dozen to several hundred individuals.

No one knows why, but herds of both species occasionally beach themselves. These animals are fairly common in Hawaii's offshore waters, but mass strandings don't occur here.

So if you see a large group of small black whales in Hawaii's channels, they're likely either pilot whales or false killer whales.

How to tell which? One way is to remember that false killer whales are much more vigorous and acrobatic than pilot whales. Anyone who has visited Sea Life Park during the false killer whale show will remember these sleek black whales jumping joyously into the air. Pilots rarely do this.

Also, pilot whales aren't inclined to investigate passing boats, but false killers are. So if you see lots of leaps out in the channel, or if the creatures race to your boat for a bow ride, it's likely false killers.

If you get lucky and have a close encounter with black whales, take a look at the shape of their heads. False killer whales have small, sleek heads, whereas pilot whales have distended, round heads. One nickname for pilot whales is potheads, named for this prominent bulge (rather than a tendency to smoke).

I know whale experts who could rattle off several other features to look for, such as shape of the dorsal fin, the type of "blow," and so on, but I can rarely see these subtle differences.

I'm still not sure which species my friend saw. The breaching suggests false killers; the round heads suggest pilots.

But who cares? What counts is that the animals were there and my friend had fun watching them. He can call them anything he likes.