# Fin whales off Pico
Question: When are fin whales recorded off Pico?

URL: https://picoisland.pt/whale-watching/species/fin-whale
Status: verified
Last verified: 2026-10-03

Fin whales are recorded off Pico mainly in spring and early summer. OBIS holds 1,137 records for the waters around the island, in 7 of 12 months from March to September, with May the busiest. Those are sightings logged, not animals counted, and effort is seasonal. The IUCN Red List classes the species as Vulnerable.

## The animal

The fin whale, *Balaenoptera physalus*, is the second-largest whale after the
[blue whale](/whale-watching/species/blue-whale), and its close relative. Both are rorquals,
baleen whales with long, streamlined bodies that feed by taking in large mouthfuls of water and
straining out small prey. Seen from a boat, a fin whale is long, dark and fast, and quite unlike
the blunt-headed [sperm whale](/whale-watching/species/sperm-whale), the toothed whale that
dominates the records for these waters.

## What the records show

OBIS holds 1,137 fin whale records inside the box of sea around Pico that this site queries, more
than half as many again as for the blue whale. They fall in seven months, March to September. May is the
busiest, with 528 records, followed by June and then April. July and August hold a few dozen each,
and September only a couple.

So the fin whale follows the same spring pattern as the blue whale, but stretched: it starts at the
same time, peaks in the same month, and tails off later into the summer. Neither is logged at all
from October to February.

## How to read that

These are records, not animals, and not a forecast. A record is one logged observation, so a single
whale followed by several boats can produce several. Records also depend on who is out looking, and
far more boats go out in the warmer months. Here that makes the late-summer fall more telling, not
less: July and August are busy months for [common dolphin](/whale-watching/species/common-dolphin)
and sperm whale records, so the boats are out, and they are logging few fin whales.

## Conservation status

Wikidata, citing the IUCN Red List, gives the fin whale's status as **Vulnerable**. The species was
described by Linnaeus in 1758.

## Related

- All five species, and how the counts are built: [whale and dolphin species off Pico](/whale-watching/species).
- The rarest of them in the data: the [orca](/whale-watching/species/orca).
- Every species month by month: the [season calendar](/whale-watching/season-calendar).
- The approach rules and the licensed operators: [whale watching on Pico](/whale-watching).

Length, weight and population figures are not given here, because none has been checked against a
primary source.

## Sources

- Scientific name: Balaenoptera physalus (source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q179020)
- Described by: Linnaeus, 1758 (source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q179020)
- IUCN Red List status: Vulnerable (source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q179020)
- Fin whale records in OBIS (Pico waters): 1,137 (source: https://api.obis.org/v3/occurrence?scientificname=Balaenoptera+physalus&geometry=POLYGON%28%28-28.65+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.25%29%29)
- Months with records: 7 of 12 (March to September) (source: https://api.obis.org/v3/occurrence?scientificname=Balaenoptera+physalus&geometry=POLYGON%28%28-28.65+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.25%29%29)
- Busiest month in the records: May (source: https://api.obis.org/v3/occurrence?scientificname=Balaenoptera+physalus&geometry=POLYGON%28%28-28.65+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.25%29%29)
- Records in the busiest month: 528 (source: https://api.obis.org/v3/occurrence?scientificname=Balaenoptera+physalus&geometry=POLYGON%28%28-28.65+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.25%29%29)