However, true rorquals get cirrhosis of the liver and mastitis. It is unlear as to whether humpbacks also get them. Humpbacks are the most parasitized of all of the Balaenopteridae. They tend to carry a wide variety of ecto and endoparasites. Humpbacks have different types of whale lice living in their scars, scratches, chin, throat, and urogenital slit.
Barnacles also live in their throats, chins, and urogenital slit.
Some endoparasites that live within the whales are trematodes, cestodes, nematodes, acanthocephalans. Pollutants that have been reported from the blubber of humpbacks include DDT, PCB's, chlordane, and dieldrin. The levels of these toxins vary during the migratory pattern of the humpbacks. References Encyclopedia Britannica, vol 5. 1962. William Benton, Publisher, Chicago.