Although the fin whale is known as the swimming champion, Xiang Yang is confident that he can swim faster than that fin whale. If the fin whale intends to hurt anyone, Xiang Yang can definitely escape immediately.
When Xiang Yang got closer, he discovered that this fin whale that swam to the South China Sea was actually most likely a North Sea whale.
There is a very strange phenomenon about fin whales. Like humans, they also have regional differences. The fin whales in the North Sea have very obvious regional differences. Although their appearance and proportions of various body parts are similar, the fin whales in the North Sea are generally slimmer, while the fin whales in the Southern Hemisphere and near the equator are generally fatter. This is related to their dietary structure.
Xiang Yang speculated that this fin whale might have lost its tribe because it was too playful or encountered some danger, so it swam from the North Sea to the South Sea.
Xiang Yang's speculation is well-founded. Compared with other whales, fin whales are very sociable whales. They usually form a group of 6 to 10 individuals.
When hunting, the number of fin whales is even greater. Sometimes, there are even dozens of groups gathering together and moving together, with the number reaching an astonishing several hundred. The white-headed fin whales floating on the sea are a spectacular scene.
This fin whale has a slender body, and it is alone, not with other fin whales, so the chances of it being a North Sea fin whale are very high.
In addition, fin whales are famous swimming champions. They are one of the fastest swimming whales, with the highest record even reaching 40 kilometers per hour. It is entirely possible for them to swim from the North Sea to the South Sea.
The fin whale was eating slowly.
When Xiang Yang swam closer, it seemed to have discovered Xiang Yang and immediately stopped eating. It flicked its tail and swam away faster.
Xiang Yang was stunned. This fin whale actually disliked him so much.
But this is not surprising.
The personalities of fin whales and humpback whales are at two completely different extremes. If humpback whales are the green forest heroes of the ocean, then fin whales are the iceberg beauties of the ocean. They are extremely "arrogant" in character and basically will not have too much contact with any creatures other than their own kind and food. They never actively approach humans and passing ships.
For this reason, it is very difficult for biologists to observe fin whales at close range. Up to now, humans have not figured out when fin whales emerge from the water. Even if someone occasionally sees them emerge from the water, it is usually from a distance.
However, some scientists have made a summary of the diving of fin whales.
Scientists divide the diving of fin whales into two types: deep diving and shallow diving. During shallow diving, fin whales will surface to breathe approximately every 2 to 3 minutes, and each breath will take about 5 seconds. When it surfaces to breathe, its head, shoulders, back and raised tail fin will all be exposed above the water. Sometimes, in order to breathe, the head will be lifted very high out of the water.
No one knows the deep diving data in such detail. Biologists can only confirm that fin whales can dive to about 200 meters underwater. The longest time recorded is more than 20 minutes. As for whether this is the limit of fin whales, no one knows.
This fin whale was now diving shallowly. After avoiding Xiang Yang, it floated towards the surface of the water. When it was about to reach the surface of the water, it suddenly accelerated. Then Xiang Yang saw it leap up, then twisted its body in the air, and then landed sideways in the water, creating a huge wave on the water like a bomb explosion.
After falling to the water surface, the fin whale continued to slap the waves with its body, and then uttered an extremely melodious and low whale call from its throat.
The call is very long and seems to have many different notes, each lasting about one to two seconds, just like a human singing.
The fin whale repeatedly made a melodious whale call that sounded sad and low.
Xiang Yang raised his eyebrows. Now he was 100% sure that this fin whale was indeed a North Sea fin whale.
The sound frequency of the fin whale is very low and can be transmitted hundreds of kilometers away. It is calling like this now, probably to call its own tribe.
"Unfortunately, this fin whale is destined to be in vain." Xiang Yang shook his head. The distance between the South China Sea and the North Sea is too far to be crossed by the sound of a whale.
What Xiang Yang didn't know was that while he was lamenting for the fin whale, there was an uproar on the distant-water fishing boat.
This fin whale was more than ten kilometers away from the fishing boat. The crew on the boat did not see it when it jumped out of the sea, but when it shouted, all the crew on the boat heard it immediately.
Xu Fang was sitting comfortably on the edge of the deck, swinging his legs, smoking a cigarette with his hands on the side of the ship.
Suddenly, he heard a low mechanical humming sound. He was so scared that the cigarette in his hand dropped. He thought there was a problem with some equipment on the ocean-going fishing boat.
That would be a big deal. This was his first day as chief engineer. If the fishing boat broke down, not to mention what Xiang Yang would do to him, he himself would not be able to forgive himself.
Not only Xu Fang was nervous, but everyone in the engine room was nervous and started checking everywhere in a panic.
In fact, it’s not their fault.
The problem is that the frequency of the fin whale's sound is too low, and it sounds too much like the hum of a machine.
When the calls of fin whales were first recorded, they were thought to be a mechanical malfunction.
Until the former Soviet Union period, some people believed that it was a geophysical phenomenon. Even the US Navy once made a joke about it, thinking that it was a former Soviet submarine coming over, and spent huge amounts of manpower and resources on frantic testing.
To this day, biologists have determined that the unusually loud, long-lasting, purely regular sound is made by fin whales, and most fishing boats will immediately stop the ship and conduct a comprehensive inspection of all the machinery on the hull if they hear this sound at sea.
After Xu Fang carefully inspected all the machines, and even put his ears to some of them to listen for a while, the people on the ship finally breathed a sigh of relief, "It's not that the machinery on the ship has malfunctioned."
As soon as Xu Fang said this, the crew members' minds suddenly became active.
Especially those crew members from the Ocean University, some of them had even guessed that there should be a fin whale nearby, and they were all ready to go with their eyes shining.
At this time, the crew members who were fishing for turbot underwater also returned to the boat.
Xiang Yang also quietly left the fin whale in time, swam back to the sea area where he first set out, and swam towards the surface of the sea.