Watch This Fin-Tastic Whale Breach Off Dana Point Shore

DANA POINT, CA —Dana Wharf Whale Watching captains released this beautiful footage of a fin whale breaching off the coast of Dana Point California this week.

The Fin Whale, also known as a Finback or herring whale, is second in size only to the Blue Whale. The average fin whale is around 65-feet long. They are thought to weigh in the neighborhood of 73-tons, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries division.

"You can recognize the fin whale by its streamlined shape, and head that looks like a V, according to the NOAA website.

"It has a tall, hooked dorsal fin, about two-thirds of the way back on the body, that rises at a shallow angle from the back," they wrote. Fin whales have distinctive coloration: black or dark brownish-gray on the back and sides, white on the underside.

The whales typically swim in pods of between two and seven, though Dana Wharf only caught sight of this one whale.

According to NOAA, there are about 2,700 fin whales in the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico and about 3,200 in the waters off of California, Oregon, and Washington (the eastern Pacific Ocean). The estimate for the entire North Pacific is between 14,000 and 18,000. The number of fin whales in the southern hemisphere is around 82,000.

For more information about whale watching in Dana Point, visit www.danawharf.com