And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:21 KJV
Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3
Most of you know that despite living their entire lives in water, whales are not classified as fish, but as mammals. Whale sightings are a bit unusual for someone who lives in the inland mountains, so managing to get a picture of anything whale-related is somewhat of an accomplishment for me.
Not long ago we were on the Pacific Northwest coast and saw a couple of whales cruising not far offshore from our vacation rental. I know some people would say that just “happening” to see the spout of this whale as it cruised past our location was a chance event, but from the second Scripture above, I know better. We’d been praying that we’d get to see this very thing.
The locals told us these were gray whales, and a group (pod) of about 200 of them remain in the area year-round.
I didn’t know that these massive animals routinely come this close to shore. In fact, I know very little about whales, so I thought I’d share a bit of the information I’ve learned. Some of you may know a whole lot more than this about these remarkable creatures:
Many people know whales breathe through blowholes – the whale’s version of nostrils. The visible spouts of water/mist which rise from the surface happen when a whale exhales warm, moisture-laden air into the surrounding cold air. The vapor then forms small water droplets which are visible to us humans.
A gray whale is a baleen whale. This means the gray whale opens its mouth underwater and takes in a large mouthful of sea water. Then the whale closes its mouth, forcing the water out through fine, comb-like plates (baleen), effectively sieving and filtering food such as plankton, krill, shrimp, small fish, etc. They often pull in sediment and food from the floor of the ocean, swimming slowly along on their sides, and filtering their food as they go.
Commercial fishing nearly caused the extinction of the gray whales in the Pacific. As early as the 1930s, international regulations were put into place to protect them from extinction. In the middle 1980s, commercial whaling was stopped completely.
Gray whales can grow to about 50 feet in length, and weigh as much as 90,000 pounds. That’s one big critter! Females are slightly larger than males. Newborn calves are about 15 feet long, and weigh about 2,000 pounds.
How interesting to note that when God created the whales, along with the other things listed in the above Scripture, He saw that it was good.
I think so too.
If you’ve never personally known the Creator God Who did all this, I encourage you to click on Got God?
Hope you have a great day. And may you have the privilege of seeing a whale spout or two sometime.