Return of Tic Tac Toe

Tic Tac Toe was ultimately the moniker given to this humpback on account of the X on its caudal fin, like the name of the strategy game. Scientists tell us that Tic Tac Toe was born in the winter of 1996-1997. This humpback was first sighted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the fall of 1997 by the team from the Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS). And practically every summer since then, it has been coming to visit us in the St. Lawrence Estuary.

I get emotional every year when Tic Tac Toe returns to the Haute-Côte-Nord region. And each sighting triggers a flashback to this initial encounter. It should be noted that prior to 1999, the year of my first encounter with this individual, humpback whales were quite rare in our area. There was one male in particular, Siam, which had been making brief visits since 1981, but Tic Tac Toe is really the star of the estuary. This was the beginning of the gradual “colonization” of the sector by this species, which peaked in 2021 with more than 110 individuals observed!

But that’s not all… Yes, Tic Tac Toe returns nearly every summer, but it doesn’t always come back alone. Or rather, shedoesn’t come back alone… From now on, we must refer to this individual as she and her! Indeed, it would not take us long to understand that H509 – the identification number attributed to her by researchers – is a female, as she would often return to our area… with a calf! The Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM) also keeps close tabs on the female’s visits to the estuary.