Long-finned pilot whale
Pilot whales off the Faroe Islands
The long-finned pilot whale is a medium-sized toothed whale that is found in the North Atlantic and in mid-latitudes throughout the northern and southern hemisphere. Males are larger than females, reaching a length of 6.3 m and a weight of 2.5 tonnes, compared to 5.5 m and 1.5 tonnes for females (Bloch et al. 1993b). They are dark brown to black in colour, with a light anchor-shaped pattern on the belly, and on some a whitish stripe extending towards the tail along the back and sometimes also behind dorsal fin. The pilot whale is a very social species, and is invariably found in groups of 10’s to 100's of animals.
Distribution and Stock Definition
The pilot whale is an oceanic species and occurs far offshore as well as in coastal areas (Buckland et al. 1993, NAMMCO 1998a). They are very widely distributed in the North Atlantic, from about 35o - 65o N in the west and from about 40o - 75o N in the east (ICES 1996; NAMMCO 1998a,b) (Fig.1). There appears to be a gap in distribution in the area south of Greenland in the Irminger Sea, however this area has not been surveyed extensively so the gap may be an artefact. There is no indication that they undertake extensive seasonal migrations, however their distribution does change on a seasonal basis, probably in relation to the abundance of their principle prey (Payne and Heinemann 1993; Zachariassen 1993).
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