A crew on board a boat off the coast of Bandol in the Var, were lucky enough to witness a Minke Whale frolicking and breaching in the waves. Watch below.
The tourist destination – between Saint Tropez and Marseilles (near Toulon) in the South of France – is usually more renowned for its beautiful beaches and wines.
In fact Minke Whales (or Lesser Rorquals) are not usually seen swimming in the Mediterranean waters at all. Atlantide Bandol, which runs excursions from Bandol, said it was an extremely “rare sighting”.
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Posting a video of the whale, taken from one of its boats on Sunday, Atlantide said: “The lesser rorqual doesn’t live in the Mediterranean, so it’s therefore incredible to have seen such a sighting.”
They explained though that “Cetaceans are very exploratory animals, and sometimes they venture outside their usual areas. It’s rare, but humpback whales have already been spotted in the Mediterranean, as well as a grey whale, for example.”
Frank Dhermain, whose Linked In profile describes him as the head of the GECEM (Mediterranean Cetacean Study Group) in Marseilles, wrote on Atlantide’s post that the whale was “clearly a small-sized animal. Sightings in the Mediterranean are very rare—usually just one to three reports per year in the western basin, and almost always juveniles. There have been eight strandings in 50 years along the French Mediterranean coast, the most recent 15 months ago at Cap Sicié: a very small animal, just 3.15 meters long, likely separated from its mother. Well done again!”
WATCH Minke Whale spotted near Bandol, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
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What is a minke whale?
The minke whale (acutorostrata) is a species complex of the baleen whale, and is one of the smallest of the ‘great whales’ or rorquals, according to NOAA Fisheries, although they do grow to at least 6 metres, even up to 10m. They usually swim alone or in small groups of two or three, although nearer the poles they are sometimes viewed in loose groups of a few hundred.
WWF says “you are more likely to see minke whales at close quarters than other baleen whales because they are notoriously inquisitive and often approach boats.”
Whales Online describes the whale – which can live up to 60 years – as “a clever strategist when it comes to capturing its prey, the smallest of rorquals performs spectacular acrobatics on the surface” and “they sometimes breach repeatedly!”
