Up Close and Personal

WHOI researchers had a close encounter with this humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)during an expedition on Stellwagen Bank, off the coast of Massachusetts. Biologists have been tagging humpbacks and right whales with short-term radio tags (lasting 1-3 hours before falling off) in order to monitor their dives and behavior and how it related to water conditions and the amount of food in the water. (Photo by Melissa Patrician, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)