Pinchy has represented the core of Unit F for several decades. She has given birth to at least two whales including Tweak in 2007, and Scar, a well-known, gregarious male who left the family group in 2010 to become an independent bachelor. Scar was 13- 15 years old at the time of his departure, placing his birth year between 1995- 1997. Assuming he was her firstborn, the timing of his birth would suggest that Pinchy was born sometime in the early 1980’s. 

Pinchy is a large and robust matriarch who has sustained significant damage to both of her pectoral fins and her flukes. Her left pectoral fin is particularly mangled, which allows us to instantly identify her from the left side. 

When we first met her, our interactions with this impressive whale were brief as she was relatively tentative among humans. In the past few years though she has become extremely friendly and is both patient and interactive among  humans, often engaging in extended swim-along encounters.

We were fortunate to document Pinchy in 2019 as she traveled in unison with whales from Units F and U. She swam on the periphery of the group and settled deeply underwater when the whales stopped to nap. While she stayed well away from citizen scientists for most of the encounter, she graciously made one close pass enabling us to collect imagery of her from several perspectives. 

We captured her on film again in 2021, while she and members of Unit U were heading offshore towards Guadeloupe. There were no noteworthy changes to her bodily markings when compared to imagery from her previous sighting in 2019. In 2022, she confidently made a number of close approaches and was seemingly very comfortable among our team members.