A blue whale with a peculiar-looking fluke was photographed Monday off Dana Point by Capt. Frank Brennan, who named the giant mammal "Jack."
But it turns out that Jack already has a name, or a series of letters and numbers, CRC 154, and that the whale has been spotted more than 50 times dating to 1981.
This is according to blue whale expert John Calambokidis, one of the founders of the Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia, Wash.
CRC 154 is the catalog number given to a whale now being called Jack, Brennan said, "because its fluke is all jacked up."
Brennan was running out of Dana Wharf Whale Watch when he photographed the whale. Its fluke is tattered, or frayed along its back edges, presumably because of injuries suffered long ago.
Calambokidis said there have been verified sightings of the whale from Mexico's Sea of Cortez as far north as Point Arena in Northern California.
The researcher said he does not know for sure whether it's male of female but added that the leviathan "was reported one year--2011--with a calf by a collaborator, so if true it would mean a female."
That would make Jack a Jacquelin, or Jackie.
Calambokidis, who will stick with CRC 154 as a name, also said that he's not aware of the origin of the apparent injuries to the whale's fluke.
It does not appear to have obvious indications of killer whale bites, ship strike or entanglement injuries.
To be sure, the whale seems to be getting along fine, and with the blue whale season just beginning off Southern California, it's quite likely that Jack, Jacquelin or Jackie will be spotted again soon.
--Pete Thomas
Photos are courtesy of Frank Brennan/Dana Wharf Whale Watch
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