Humpback whales?

Question

What parts of a Humpback whale's body help it to survive in it's habitat? Its structural adaptations.

I came up with the fact that they are big it would help them fight off predators but thats all I can think of.

Answer 1

Think about what the whale does and how it lives. It adapted to swim. Its shape facilitates motion through a dense fluid medium. It presents a small forward aspect so it pushes through the water easily. This body shape is called fusiform and is characteristic of accomplished swimmers. It has a very smooth skin to reduce drag from the passage of water along its sides. The tail flukes are horizontal to provide powerful propulsion.
They have to balance the oxygen demands of active hunting
while holding their breath. With their large size the have increased space to hold large oxygen stores while their metabolic demands have not increased proportionately. Marine mammals have been shown to dive longer and deeper with increasing size.

Humpbacks' uniquely long flippers achieve a high degree of maneuverability. They are able to move in all directions by rotating or angling their flippers in coordination with their tails.
They have sonar to aid in visualizing the space around them. They live in three dimensions, being able to move vertically as well as laterally, so they need to observe a grater volume of space. They need a brain capable of interpreting the quantity of data their senses collect.
They are social so they communicate to members of their group about hunting and other needs. This also requires cortex brain functions. The humpbacks coordinate between as many as a dozen individuals when driving fish together.
They have baleen adapted to strain the water out while retaining krill & fish.
They feed in frigid polar waters during summer months then migrate to the tropics to birth their calves in warm water but they fast during this time. The seasonal storage of fat fits its habitat well. It lives on the stored fat in the warm waters where it no longer needs the insulation. The calves are born into warm water they can survive in until they can learn to hunt well enough to go into the cold summer feeding grounds.
Size has to do with insulation not predators. Think of the ratio of surface to volume. A mouse has a lot of surface to loose heat from to very little volume to generate heat. A whale has very little surface to a lot of volume to generate heat with. The whale keeps warm easier than the mouse does in frigid waters. Heat is produced by the whales metabolism and is lost in contact with the water. When less of their mass contacts the water less of their heat is lost. This is called Bergman's Rule.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergmann's_Rule

Answer 2

It's only real adaption to survive is it's size. Because of it's large size no predator dares to attack it (usually, there have been freak incidents). It's lung capacity could also be one, being able to hold it's breath for about half an hour. They are also able to live in vast areas of the oceans.

Answer 3

It could be that because of it's size it would have a thick layer of blubber so it could survive when lives in colder climates.

Answer 4

Uhhh..... I'm pretty sure it their size.... My friend knows a lot about whales, I'll ask her.