Whales sighted off Malta

[Jonathan]

Sighted in the strait between Malta and Sicily last weekend:

[caldaland]

very nice and memorable picture.

[fisheye]

That is very nice you are lucky to have caught that on camera.  On Saturday 28th April I was on the western coast and on our way back at about 13.00 we were about 2 km west of the Dingli Radar when we spotted a fin coming in and out of the water we got close and it was a moon fish about 40 or 50kg. It was amazing never encountered one before unfortunately by the time I got out my mobile to memorize it it went down

[The_Gaffer]

great shot.  Thanks for sharing this with us Jonathan!

[Robby9]

I think in maltese this is called `monka` as one day an old fisherman told me.nice pic btw

[Jonathan]

I didn't take the pic myself but I'll pass on your complements to my friend who did. Is there anyone here who can confirm what type of whale species it is? My thoughts are Fin, Minke or Sei but not sure which. The guys at BICREF think that it is most probably a Fin whale but the dorsal fin of these is usually more swept back whereas in this pic it seems to be quite linear. Also the whale didn't seem to ever put its head out of the water