PHOTO: 15-metre fin whale spotted near Starigrad

(Photo: Blue World Institute)

A large fin whale, which is the second-largest species on Earth, visited Croatia’s Adriatic this summer and one of them, a 15-metre-long male, was captured on camera.

Two days ago, researchers from the Blue World Institute in Losinj put a call out asking for sightings of a fin whale in the Velebit Channel, and on Tuesday researchers located it, Draško Holcer from the Blue World Institute told 24sata. 

“Thanks to the reports of many of you who joined us in the search for the whale, we can happily conclude that after a whole morning of searching we found it the next day near Starigrad-Paklenica,” Blue World Institute said. 

The whale captured on camera on Tuesday (Photo: Blue World Institute)

Unfortunately, the weather was not in their favour and after a few ascents, the whale dived into the storm and departed. 

“The whale we saw is an adult, we assume 15 meters or so long. We were unable to check his physical condition because we were with him for too short but at first glance, he does not look malnourished.”

Blue World Institute says that the last report was that it was seen near Lukovo Šugarj. 

The fin whale is on average about 20 meters long, but one fin has been measured as long as 27 meters. The weight of one such giant is estimated at about 70 tons. Fin whales fins live in all the world’s oceans. They spend summers in polar or moderately cold waters, and in winter they come to moderately warm and tropical seas.