He was last photographed in April, 2010 and since that time has had a significant injury on his tail stock or peduncle. It is difficult to assess the injury from aerial photographs but a large section of skin is missing. It is unknown if this extends completely around the tail stock.
We can only hope that Lou survives this injury. Right whales do have an amazing ability to survive some gruesome injuries as seen with Ruffian #3530, who incidentally was also seen during this flight.
Ruffian's back scar - white scar tissue
