Whale appearing to wave at boat caught on video

Well here’s something you don’t see every day.

Courtesy of NJ.com this video shows something pretty darn cool. A group was out on a boat off of Cape May and since it was a whale watching excursion they certainly got their money’s worth. A forty foot humpback whale not only showed up on that early September day, it seemed to wave at the crowd. You’ll hear the people’s reactions in the video.

Now how are they so sure this was a friendly wave hello and not a big fish flipping the bird? This IS New Jersey after all.

What the experts say is most likely going on here is the whale is feeding. Humpback whales are known to use their pectoral fins to slap the water in order to scare the fish into moving into a tighter school to make for a more plentiful mouthful when the whale makes its move.

Some humpback whale fun facts:

The humpback whale is one species where the female is larger than the male, with a full grown male 43 to 46 feet but the female 49 to 52 feet. So all humpback couples are Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley?

Newborn humpback whales weigh four times the average car.

The tail of every humpback whale has markings that are unique just like a human fingerprint.

They have not one but two blowholes.

The underwater songs of humpback whales can be heard from miles away.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.