Long-Finned Pilot Whale	Globicéphale noir de l’Atlantique Globicephala melas

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Length: 4 to 5 m, up to 8 m

Weight: 2 to 3.5 t

Sociability: Highly gregarious

Longevity: 25 to 50 years

Dive time: 4 to 10 min

Observations: Regular in the southern Gulf, rare in the rest of the St. Lawrence

Worldwide distribution: sub-Arctic and temperate waters of the Northern and Southern hemispheres

Worldwide population: Unknown, but abundant

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This member of the dolphin family forms stable family groups that include several dozen individuals. These whales often beach themselves in groups.

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Pilot whales often exhibit a behaviour that biologists find quite disconcerting: mass stranding. Strandings of this kind, which can sometimes include as many as 300 pilot whales, have occurred several times in eastern Canada. Navigational error, group solidarity towards an animal in distress, an infectious disease or parasites, the hypotheses are numerous. This phenomena is common to several species around the world, all of them highly gregarious.

The presence of pilot whales in the Estuary is exceptional. They are more often seen in the Gulf, particularly around the Gaspé Peninsula.