Blue Whale
The largest animal ever known to have existed.
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a species of 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. Four subspecies are recognized: B. m. musculus in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia in the Southern Ocean, B. m. brevicauda (the pygmy blue whale) in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, and B. m. indica in the Northern Indian Ocean. There is a population in the waters off Chile that may constitute a fifth subspecies.
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Cetacea
- Family
- Balaenopteridae
- Scientific Name
- Balaenoptera musculus
Lore & Background
The genus name, Balaenoptera, means winged whale, while the species name, musculus, could mean 'muscle' or a diminutive form of 'mouse', possibly a pun by Carl Linnaeus when he named the species in Systema Naturae. 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. The name 'blue whale' was derived from the Norwegian blåhval, coined by Svend Foyn shortly after he had perfected the harpoon gun. The Norwegian scientist G. O. Sars adopted it as the common name in 1874. Blue whales were referred to as 'Sibbald's rorqual', after Robert Sibbald, who first described the species. Whalers sometimes referred to them as 'sulphur bottom' whales, as the bellies of some individuals are tinged with yellow due to a coating of huge numbers of diatoms.
In Their Own Story
The series attracted some criticism when it was revealed that some of the footage was filmed at an aquarium in Wales. The series producer, Alastair Fothergill, said that around 2% of the whole series was filmed in tanks at aquariums. A BBC spokesman argued that it would have been unethical to actually disturb the breeding process of wild lobsters for one of the scenes, which was why they made the decision to use the aquarium footage.
Reader's Guide
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. Blue whales vocalize, with a fundamental frequency ranging from 8 to 25 Hz; their vocalizations may vary by region, season, behavior, and time of day. In general, blue whale populations migrate between their summer feeding areas near the poles and their winter breeding grounds near the tropics. There is also evidence of year-round residencies, and partial or age- and sex-based migration.
Did You Know?
- The blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever existed.
- Blue whales are known to interbreed with fin whales, producing fertile hybrids.
- The blue whale was hunted almost to the point of extinction until the International Whaling Commission banned all blue whale hunting in 1966.
- Blue whales continue to face man-made threats such as ship strikes, pollution, ocean noise, and climate change.
Elsewhere in the Living Planet universe
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