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What Parasites Affect the Fin Whale?

This streamlined cetation is the second largest species of whale. Adult fin whales can weigh in excess of 70 tons. Fin whales are more social than other rorqual whales and typically are found in groups of up to 10 animals, although as many as 100 can congregate at feeding grounds. The fin whale is a migratory species and can be found in all of the world's oceans. As with other whale species, the fin whales carry parasites both on their skin and within their bodies.

Nematode Worms
- These nematodes, known as the fin whale round worm, infect the animal's excretory and reproductive systems. Fin whale round worms can grow to 24 feet in length, and a single nematode can be found in more than one internal organ at the same time. According to Bumblebee, a website predominantly about bumblebees but offers information about other animals in the environment, the head of a fin whale roundworm in one instance was moving through the animal's liver, while its tail was in the excretory system. Fin whale nematodes are highly invasive and may cause the death of those animals that they infest, particularly when they obstruct the whale's renal veins. Fin whale nematodes infect new hosts after being shed in the urine of an affected animal.
Parasitic Copepods
- The heads of these copepods embed deeply in the blubber of fin whales, while their posterior end hangs free from the host. Parasitic copepods feed on the body fluids of fin whales and develop plump bodies. These parasites are normally distributed uniformly over the whale's body. Parasitic copepods possess prolonged mandibles, which form a tube-like mouth. There can be in excess of 200 of these parasites on the body of a fin whale.
Barnacles
- Barnacles typically attach themselves to young whales shortly after birth. Whales carry barnacles with them throughout their life, although individual barnacles will die and fall off the whale during its lifetime. Whales will scrape their bodies along the sea floor in an attempt to rid themselves of a large number of barnacles. Apart from remaining permanently attached to the skin of fin whales, barnacles do not feed from their host, but gather plankton from the water as the whale travels. Fin whales, being fast and powerful swimmers, have far fewer barnacles than the slower-moving whale species.
Whale Lice
- Whale lice appear as yellow discoloring on the whale's skin. These lice are transferred to calves at birth or when they nurse from their mother. Whale lice are typically found around open wounds on the whale's body, where they feed on the damaged skin and exposed tissue. These lice are also seen in the throat grooves of these whales. As in the case of barnacles, fin whales will scrape along the sea bottom to remove lice.

Animals & Science