The Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus), is the second largest animal on Earth. It is the second most frequent whale to be sighted in these waters. However, it is extremely rare to be spotted alive close to the coast. Most sightings in our expedition area comes from strandings.
When not fully grown, they can be confused with the Sei Whale (Balaenoptera borealis), which also occurs in the area in the fall. The main feature of the fin whale is the asymmetric colouring of the head, which needs photographs of both sides to be sure. This whale is quite frequent (for a whale) in the Tagus river, normally die shortly after entering or they came already dead stuck on the ships bulbs.
The Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) is the most common whale in Portuguese coastal waters, and it is the smallest baleen whale in the Northern Hemisphere.
Given its small size, the blow is hard to spot, making it a very discrete whale. It is distinguished from other whales by the small size and white spot on the fins.
In our expedition region, they appear to settle for a few months in a row, feeding of fish schools. Usually they are solitary animals, rarely swimming in pairs.
The Orca (Orcinus orca), is the largest dolphin in the world. Because the experience is more similar to a whale watching experience we decided to place in this page, instead on the dolphin watching. Individuals occur in the area as transients on their annual migration up to north. There are 3 known families that pass by Lisbon Bay and other 2 that might do the same route, but never sighted by us.
It is almost impossible to confuse them, as they have a very peculiar colour pattern, a massive size and males have a 1.8m tall dorsal fin, that cuts the surface like a sword.
The orcas that can pass in Lisbon belong to the Iberian orca population with slightly more than 40 individuals and are bluefin tuna specialists. As most orcas in Europe, they only feed on fishes. We see them hunting alongside with the common dolphins.
They can be spotted between May and June, in August and in September-October. The fall period is the most when we sighted them more often as there are better sea conditions. They were recorded inside the Tagus and the Sado river. We keep a catalogue of all individuals that we meet.
+Read more about our orcas.