Welcome to the Marine Mili series, a regular column about all things marine. During this series I aim to inspire people to want to protect our oceans and all the marine life that call our oceans home. Hopefully after reading each column, you would have learnt something new including what we can do to help protect and preserve our oceans. You can follow me and my journey on my Instagram page: _marine_mili.

Can you believe that for a humpback whale to do a single breach it uses as much energy as it would take for a human to run a marathon?

Did you know that humpback whales got their common name from the distinctive hump on their back, which is their dorsal fin?

Their scientific name is Megaptera novaeangliae, with Megaptera meaning big, winged referring to their long pectoral fins that can be up to five metres in length.

Novaeangliae means New England which is where the first whalers encountered them.

These gentle giants are Baleen whales which means that they are filter feeders.

Humpbacks will take a huge mouthful of water in to catch some food then will expel the excess water through their hundreds of baleen plates while keeping the food in their mouths.

Baleen whales like humpbacks use songs to communicate with each other. You may have heard of echolocation before, that is a way that toothed whales communicate and locate prey.

Humpbacks feed on krill and small fish that they can sift through their baleen.

Baleen is made from keratin, the same material our hair and nails are made of.

Humpbacks also have unique fingerprints on their tail fluke which helps scientist and researchers identify them, as each tail fluke has different colouration, patterns, and shapes.

Humpback whales are a whaling success story as they are one of the species that recovered the quickest and in an abundant way. Other species like the southern right whale are struggling to regain a strong population.

Whaling in Australia ended in 1978 and a year later Australia brought in an anti-whaling policy to officially end whaling in Australian waters.

In the 1970s it was said there were about 125,000 humpbacks and by the 1980s there were only 5500 left.

There are now an estimated 80,000 humpbacks swimming in our waters, so happily they have bounced back quite well.

Whale season has now started, so keep an eye out while you are down near the beach, and you might just be lucky enough to spot one of these incredible creatures out in their natural habitat.