Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 119, November 2014, pp. 1-13. | Page 6

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Location 9.14 N ; 58.22 E
Depth
3 km below the ocean's surface
Distance 1552 km N of Victoria, Seychelles / pop: 22,881 / local time:
22:57:35.0 2014-02-13
979 km SE of Şalālah, Oman / pop: 163,140 / local time: 22:57:35.0 2014-02-13
This quake was also a vertical thrusting event making it extremely dangerous to
any whales above the epicenter.
The general flow of the surface currents in February was from the epicenter
towards the Gulf of Oman and then into the Arabian/Persian Gulf. Fin whales
are one of the fastest cetaceans and can sustain speeds of between 37 kilometres
per hour (23 mph) and 41 kilometres per hour (25 mph). This whale would have
easily traveled downstream 150 miles per day, arriving near Kuwait at the end of
February in perfect time with this beaching (Capt. David Williams, 2014).

The 14-meter Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus Linnaeus, 1758) which was stranded on
the Kuwaiti Failaka Island on Friday 28.02.2014. http://www.q8ping.com/64403.html

How Do I know it is a Fin Whale?
Fin whales are the second largest whale and can be easily confused with blue
whales because of their large size. Fin whales, however, have a very distinctive
dorsal fin and asymmetrical coloration. While blue whales have a somewhat
stumpy dorsal fin and are uniformly grayish in color, fin whales have a very
pronounced and falcate dorsal fin and have a whitish face on the right side and a
gray face on the left side. Additionally the baleen, tongue and mouth cavity are
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 119 – November 2014