Mammals of the WorldBlue Whale
Balaenoptera musculus
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Balaenopteridae
- Genus
- Balaenoptera
- IUCN status
- EN
- Distribution
- Angola|Argentina|Australia|Bangladesh|Bermuda|Brazil|Cape Verde|Canada|Chile|Cocos Islands|Colombia|Comoros|Cook Islands|Costa Rica|Djibouti|Ecuador|El Salvador|Falkland Islands|Fiji|France|Greenland|Guatemala|Iceland|India|Indonesia|Iran|Ireland|Iraq|Japan|Kenya|Kiribati|Madagascar|Malaysia|Christmas Island|Maldives|Mauritania|Mauritius|Mexico|Morocco|Mozambique|Myanmar|Namibia|Nauru|New Caledonia|New Zealand|Nicaragua|Norfolk Island|Norway|Oman|Pakistan|Palau|Panama|Papua New Guinea|Peru|Philippines|Portugal|Azores|Madeira|Russia|Réunion|Senegal|Seychelles|Solomon Islands|Somalia|South Africa|South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands|Spain|Canary Islands|Sri Lanka|Tanzania|Thailand|East Timor|Tuvalu|United Kingdom|United States|Uruguay|Vanuatu|Yemen|Gabon?|North Korea?|South Korea?|Taiwan?|China?
- Realm
- Marine
Other names: Blue Rorqual|Sibbald's Rorqual|Sulphur-bottom Whale|Northern Blue Whale|Pygmy Blue Whale|Antarctic Blue Whale|Southern Blue Whale|Northern Indian Ocean Blue Whale
About this species
Blue Whale belongs to baleen whale and the largest marine mammal in the rorqual family Balaenopteridae. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9–30.5 m (98–100 ft) and weighing up to 190–200 t (190–200 long tons; 210–220 short tons), it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can be of various shades of greyish-blue on its upper surface and somewhat lighter underneath. (Wikipedia, general species account).
There is also evidence of year-round residencies, and partial or age- and sex-based migration. Blue whales are filter feeders; their diet consists almost exclusively of krill. They are generally solitary or gather in small groups, and have no well-defined social structure other than mother–calf bonds. One of the first published descriptions of a blue whale comes from Robert Sibbald's Phalainologia Nova, after Sibbald found a stranded whale in the estuary of the Firth of Forth, Scotland, in 1692. (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description: Wildlife of sulawesi guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)