Ocean Watch

Last week, two melon-headed whales beached themselves off Hauula Beach Park. Local whale specialists took the ailing animals to Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe where workers cared for them in a small lagoon.

I'd never seen this species before, but when I did, two things struck me: 1) Their heads don't look like melons, and 2) they're adorable.

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These black, 8-foot-long mammals are easy to love. They have a natural smile on their white lips, swim on their sides with a flipper raised, as if in greeting, and love to be stroked.

Apparently, these members of the dolphin family are equally charming in the open ocean. Melon-headed whales are avid bow wave riders, sometimes pushing away other species to get a prime spot near the boat. These swift swimmers can often keep pace with the vessel, porpoising out of the water regularly as they race along.

When melon-headed whales flee from a ship, such as a purse seiner where they sometimes get caught, they swim close together in a "chorus line" and zoom off. Since melon-headed whales form herds of up to 1,500 individuals, and break the water at a shallow angle, their forward movement creates a lot of spray.

A fast-swimming group of melon-headed whales can work the water into an impressive froth.

These little whales are no strangers to Hawaii. A report from 1841 states native Hawaiians drove 60 of these animals ashore in Hilo Bay. People considered their meat a delicacy and also valued the animals' oil.

Today, melon-headed whales are occasionally seen around the main islands. Single strandings have occurred off Kahuku and Lahaina.

Now, about that name ... Since the common name of this species was melon-head (source unknown), researchers made up a scientific name to match. In 1966 they dubbed the whale Peponocephala electra. Pepo is Greek for melon; cephal, for head.

Another researcher, however, pointed out that pepo in Latin refers to pumpkins. Still another source says melon comes from a colloquial French word meaning "bowler hat," referring to the whale's bulging forehead.

I, however, saw no particular bulge on the whales' heads. Their foreheads make a smooth curve to their mouths but don't protrude.

"I expected them to have big, round heads, like a beluga," one of my companions said as we stared at the whales. Me, too.

Then there's the second scientific name, electra. In Greek mythology, Electra murdered her mother because the mother had murdered Electra's father. Sigmund Freud ran with this story, creating the Electra complex, commonly called penis envy.

I doubt this story is the one biologists had in mind when they named the whale, but then with animal names, you never know.

Despite excellent treatment by a host of volunteers, the weaker of the two stranded whales became so ill that the team compassionately ended its suffering.

The other whale is much improved. If it continues to do well, this melon-headed, pumpkin-skulled, bowler-hatted, penis-envying whale may soon be back in the ocean riding bow waves.