The fin whale is a large baleen whale that belongs to the Cetacean order. It is found in all the major oceans, from polar to tropical waters. At least two recognized subspecies exist, in the North Atlantic and the Southern Hemisphere. Global population estimates range from less than 100,000 to roughly 119,000.
About Fin whale in brief
The fin whale is a large baleen whale that belongs to the Cetacean order, which includes all species of whale, dolphin, and porpoise. It is found in all the major oceans, from polar to tropical waters. At least two recognized subspecies exist, in the North Atlantic and the Southern Hemisphere. Global population estimates range from less than 100,000 to roughly 119,000. Like all other large whales, the fin whale was heavily hunted during the 20th century. As of 1997 only 38,000 survived. Recovery of the overall population size of southern subspecies is predicted to be at less than 50% of its pre-whaling state by 2100 due to heavier impacts of whaling and slower recovery rates. The International Whaling Commission issued a moratorium on commercial hunting of this whale, although Iceland and Japan have resumed hunting. The species is also hunted by Greenlanders under the IWC’s Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling provisions. Most experts consider the fin whales of the Pacific to be a third subspecies, yet as yet there is no official name for this subspecies. The northern fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus pits, inhabits the Atlantic and southern fin whales, Boyi pits the Pacific, inhabiting the North and South Atlantic. The largest fin whale reportedly grow to 27. 3 m long with a maximum confirmed length of 25. 9 m, a maximum recorded weight of nearly 74 tonnes, and a maximum estimated weight of around 114 tonnes.
Its food consists of small schooling fish, squid, and crustaceans including copepods and krill. The fin whale’s body is long and slender, coloured brownish-grey with a paler underside. It was first described by Friderich Martens in 1675 and then again by Paul Dudley in 1725. The former description was used as the primary basis of the species Balaena physalus by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. In 1804, Bernard Germain de Lacépède reclassified the species as BalaENoptera rorqual, based on a specimen that had stranded on Île Sainte-Marguerite in 1798. The word physalus comes from the Greek word physa, meaning ‘blows’, referring to the prominent blow of the whale. The whale is the second-largest species on Earth after the blue whale. It can surpass the speed of the fastest ocean steamship with its beautiful, slender body built like a racing yacht. The family diverged from the other balean whales in the middle of the Miocene, although it is not known when the members of their own suborder evolved into their own species. Recent DNA evidence indicates the fin Whale may be more closely related to the humpback whale and gray whale in at least at least the two genera Mysticeti and graya, than it is to members of its own genus, such as the minke whales.
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This page is based on the article Fin whale published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
