Minke whales are the smallest of the state’s baleen whales, and Cape Cod National Seashore alone accounts for the majority of Massachusetts’ named records, its position near Stellwagen Bank putting it close to some of the richest whale-feeding water on the East Coast.
Records show three bumps rather than one clean peak, April, a July and August rise, and another in October, a scattered pattern that fits a species known for irregular, often solitary feeding trips rather than the tight, predictable migration window humpback and fin whales show off the same coast. Massachusetts carries its own S3, vulnerable, rank for minke whales, a step below the species’ secure global status.
Full species profile
