Know Your Ocean: Palmetto, the mysterious Northern Right Whale, loves South Carolina.

"The happiness of the dolphin is to exist. For man it is to know that and to wonder at it."
Saint Jacques Yves Cousteau

The distinctive V-blow of the Northern Right Whale.

Palmetto, with her unique Palmetto tree on her head.


I just got back from a visit to Sullivan's Island where I did a little whale searching. The Northern Right whale can often be seen off the South Carolina and Georgia coasts from November through January during breeding and calving season. When you think of South Carolina, you don't really think about whale watching, but they are out there. In fact, we have a mysterious visitor who has been spotted off and on for several years off the South Carolina coast. Her name is Palmetto and she got this name because she has the SC state tree, the Palmetto, on her head. Her palmetto tree is actually formed from her callosities, callouses filled with tiny whale lice, which give each Right whale an identifying fingerprint. A group of elementary students in Sumter, SC noticed the palmetto tree resemblance and had her officially named by the New England Aquarium. Palmetto has fascinated researchers due to her mysterious appearances. She disappeared for 7 years as a young whale, then reappeared in 1996 with her first calf. She disappeared again, then was seen in 2005, just beyond the breakers at Pawley's Island, SC with another new calf. She seems to be visiting us to show off her new babies.

Right whales probably got their name because they were the "right" whale to hunt. They have lots of blubber, swim close to shore, and float easily after being killed. This led to them being the most endangered whale species in the world with only about 400 individuals. This makes the sighting of 39 calves off the SC coast last year especially exciting.

A Palmetto tree at Fort Moultrie...a good spot to look for whales.

These tiny cyamids are relatives to shrimp and crab. They were nicknamed "whale lice" by early whalers who probably were pretty familiar with the human variety with which they share a resemblance. The cyamids give the whale's callosities their white color.

Above is a picture taken of the Yang Ming cargo ship as she passes by Sullivan's Island on the way to Charleston Harbor. Right whales are especially vulnerable to ship strikes because they swim slowly, swim close to the shore, and they lack a dorsal fin, making them harder to spot. A new controversial Federal regulation limits a ship's speed coming into harbor in hopes of preventing whale strikes. Yang Ming seems to be doing a good job of following the speed limit. One of my favorite sounds is to be awakened in the middle of the night at Sullivan's Island from the deep rumbling of a ship's fog horn.

Check out your whale tale: place sides of hands together, palm up, slightly cup hands and tighten grip as if holding water... your own distinctive whale tale will appear. Maybe we are more connected than we thought. Learned this trick from a friendly fisherman.