Blue whale
Adult blue whale from the eastern Pacific Ocean | |
Size comparison against an average human | |
Endangered (IUCN 3.1)[2] | |
Kingdom: | |
Phylum: | |
Class: | |
Order: | |
Suborder: | |
Family: | |
Genus: | |
Species: | B. musculus |
Balaenoptera musculus | |
| |
Blue whale range (in blue) | |
mammal belonging to the suborder of
whales (called
color: #0000FF;">[3] At up to 33 metres (108 ft) in
length and 180 metric tons (200
tons)[4] or more in weight, it is the
animal ever known to have existed.[5]
Long
and slender, the blue whale's body can be various shades of bluish-grey
dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath.[6] There are at least three distinct
m. musculus of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia of the
Ocean and B. m. brevicauda (also known as the
blue whale) found in the
Ocean and
Pacific Ocean. B. m. indica, found in the Indian Ocean, may be another subspecies.
As with other baleen whales, its diet consists almost exclusively of
small crustaceans known as
color: #0000FF;">[7]
Blue
whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans until the beginning of
the twentieth century. For over 40 years, they were hunted almost to
by whalers until protected by the international community
in 1966. A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales
worldwide[8], located in at least five groups.
More recent research into the Pygmy subspecies suggests this may be
an underestimate.[9] Before whaling, the largest
population was in the Antarctic, numbering approximately 239,000 (range
202,000 to 311,000).[10] There remain only much smaller
(around 2,000) concentrations in each of the North-East
and Indian Ocean groups. There are two more groups in
the North Atlantic, and at least two in the
Hemisphere.
|
Taxonomy
See also: Evolution of cetaceans
(family Balaenopteridae), a family that includes the
whale, the
whale, the
and the minke whale.[3] The family
is believed to have diverged from the other families of the suborder
as long ago as the middle
However, it is not known when the members of those families diverged
from each other.
The
blue whale is usually classified as one of eight species in the genus
one authority places it in a separate monotypic genus, Sibbaldus,[11] but this is not accepted elsewhere.
color: #0000FF;">[1]
sequencing analysis indicates that the blue whale is
closer to the sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) and
whale (Balaenoptera brydei) than to other Balaenoptera species, and closer to the
whale (Megaptera) and the
(Eschrichtius) than to the
whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata and Balaenoptera bonaerensis).[12][13] If further research confirms
these relationships, it will be necessary to reclassify the rorquals.
There
have been at least 11 documented cases of blue/
hybrid adults in the wild. Arnason and Gullberg describe the genetic
distance between a Blue and a Fin as about the same as that between
a human and a gorilla.[14] Researchers working off of
Fiji believe they photographed a hybrid
whale.[15]
The
specific name musculus is Latin and could mean "muscular", but it
can also be interpreted as "little mouse".[16]
who named the species in his seminal
have intended the ironic
meaning.[18]
Melville called this species sulphur-bottom in his novel
on the underparts from
films on the skin. Other common names for the blue whale have included
the Sibbald's rorqual (after
Sibbald), the great blue whale and the great northern rorqual. These names have now fallen into disuse.
Authorities
classify the species into three or four subspecies: B. m. musculus, the
and North Pacific populations, B. m. intermedia, the
Ocean, B. m. brevicauda, the
blue whale found in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific,
color: #0000FF;">[19] and the more problematic
m. indica, the
Indian Ocean and, although described earlier, may be the same subspecies
as B. m. brevicauda.[1]
Description
and behaviour
Adult blue whale
Aerial view of a blue whale showing both pectoral
fins
The blow of a blue whale
The small
fin of this blue whale is just visible on the far
left.
comparison with the stockier build of other whales.[20] The head is flat and U-shaped and has a prominent ridge running from the
to the top of the upper lip.[20] The front part of the mouth
is thick with baleen plates; around 300 plates (each around one
metre (3.2 ft) long)[20] hang from the upper jaw, running
0.5 m (1.6 ft) back into the mouth. Between 60 and 90 grooves (called
ventral pleats) run along the throat parallel to the body length. These
pleats assist with evacuating water from the mouth after lunge feeding
(see feeding below).
The
fin is small,[20] visible only briefly during
the dive sequence. Located around three-quarters of the way along the
length of the body, it varies in shape from one individual to another;
some only have a barely perceptible lump, but others may have prominent
and falcate dorsals. When surfacing
to breathe, the blue whale raises its shoulder and blowhole out of the
water to a greater extent than other large whales such as the
or sei. Observers can use this trait to differentiate
between species at sea. Some blue whales in the North Atlantic and North
Pacific raise their tail fluke when diving. When breathing, the whale
emits a spectacular vertical single-column spout up to 12 metres (39 ft),
typically 9 metres (30 ft). Its
capacity is 5,000 litres (1320 U.S. gallons). Blue whales have twin
blowholes shielded by a large splashguard.[20]
The
flippers are 3–4 metres (9.8–13 ft) long. The upper sides are grey
with a thin white border. The lower sides are white. The head and tail
fluke are generally uniformly grey. The whale's upper parts, and sometimes
the flippers, are usually mottled. The degree of mottling varies substantially
from individual to individual. Some may have a uniform slate-grey color,
but others demonstrate a considerable variation of dark blues, greys
and blacks, all tightly mottled.[3]
Blue
whales can reach speeds of 50 kilometres per hour (31 mph) over short
bursts, usually when interacting with other whales, but 20 kilometres
per hour (12 mph) is a more typical traveling speed.[3] When feeding, they slow down
to 5 kilometres per hour (3.1 mph).
Blue
whales most commonly live alone or with one other individual. It is
not known how long traveling pairs stay together. In locations where
there is a high concentration of food, as many as 50 blue whales have
been seen scattered over a small area. However, they do not form the
large close-knit groups seen in other baleen species.
Size
Joey Williams poses with a 19' foot long Blue Whale
in the collections of the
Museum of Natural History.
whales killed by whalers were not weighed whole, but cut up into
manageable pieces first. This caused an underestimate of the total weight
of the whale, due to the loss of blood and other fluids. Nevertheless,
measurements between 150–170 metric tons (170–190 short tons) were
recorded of animals up to 27 metres (89 ft) in length. The weight of a
30 metres (98 ft) individual is believed by the American
Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML) to be in excess of
180 metric tons (200 short tons). The largest blue whale accurately weighed
by NMML scientists to date was a female that weighed 177 metric tons
(195 short tons).[8]
The
blue whale is the largest animal ever known to have lived.[20] The largest known
of the Mesozoic Era was the
weighed up to 90 metric tons (99 short tons), though a controversial
vertebra of Amphicoelias fragillimus may indicate an animal of up to 122 metric tons
(134 short tons) and 40–60 metres (130–200 ft).[22] Furthermore, there are weight
estimates for the very poorly known
tons (150–240 short tons), besides length estimates up to about 45 metres
(148 ft). The extinct fish
may have approached its size.[23] However, complete fossils are
difficult to come by, making size comparisons difficult. All these animals
are considered to be smaller than the blue whale.
There
is some uncertainty about the biggest blue whale ever found, as most
data comes from blue whales killed in
waters during the first half of the twentieth century and was collected
by whalers not well-versed in standard zoological measurement techniques.
The longest whales ever recorded were two females measuring 33.6–33.3
metres (110–109 ft) respectively.[24] The longest whale measured
by scientists at the NMML was 29.9 metres (98 ft).
color: #0000FF;">[8]
A
blue whale's tongue weighs around 2.7 metric tons (3.0 short tons)
color: #0000FF;">[25] and, when fully expanded, its
mouth is large enough to hold up to 90 metric tons (99 short tons) of
food and water.[7] Despite the size of its mouth,
the dimensions of its throat are such that a blue whale cannot swallow
an object wider than a beach ball.[26] Its
weighs 600 kilograms (1,300 lb) and is the
known in any animal.[25] A blue whale's
is about 23 centimetres (9.1 in) in diameter.[27] During the first seven months
of its life, a blue whale calf drinks approximately 400 litres (100
U.S. gallons) of milk every day. Blue whale calves gain
quickly, as much as 90 kilograms (200 lb) every 24 hours. Even at birth,
they weigh up to 2,700 kilograms (6,000 lb)—the same as a fully grown
color: #0000FF;">[3]
Feeding
though they also take small numbers of
color: #0000FF;">[28] The species of this
eaten by blue whales varies from ocean to ocean. In the North Atlantic,
and Thysanoessa longicaudata
are the usual food;[29][30][31] in the North Pacific,
color: #CC2200;">Thysanoessa longipes, Thysanoessa spinifera,
color: #CC2200;">Nyctiphanes symplex and
color: #CC2200;">Nematoscelis megalops;[32][33][34] and in the Antarctic,
An
adult blue whale can eat up to 40 million krill in a day.[35] The whales always feed in the
areas with the highest concentration of krill, sometimes eating up to
3,600 kilograms (7,900 lb) of krill in a single day.[28] This daily calorie requirement
of an adult blue whale is in the region of 1.5 million.[36]
Because
krill move, blue whales typically feed at depths of more than 100 metres
(330 ft) during the day and only surface-feed at night. Dive times are
typically 10 minutes when feeding, though dives of up to 20 minutes
are common. The longest recorded dive is 36 minutes[37]. The whale feeds by lunging
forward at groups of krill, taking the animals and a large quantity
of water into its mouth. The water is then squeezed out through the
baleen plates by pressure from the ventral pouch and tongue. Once the
mouth is clear of water, the remaining krill, unable to pass through
the plates, are swallowed. The blue whale also incidentally consumes
small fish, crustaceans and squid caught up with krill.[38][39]
Life history
A juvenile blue whale with its mother
color: #0000FF;">[40] Little is known about mating
behaviour or breeding grounds. Females typically give birth once every
two to three years at the start of the winter after a
period of ten to twelve months.[40] The calf weighs about 2.5 metric
tons (2.8 short tons) and is around 7 metres (23 ft) in length. Blue whale
calves drink 380–570 litres (100–150 U.S. gallons) of milk a day.
takes place for about six months, by which time the calf has doubled
in length. Sexual maturity is typically reached at eight to ten years,
by which time males are at least 20 metres (66 ft) long (or more in the
Southern Hemisphere). Females are larger still, reaching sexual maturity
at around the age of five, by which they are about 21 metres (69 ft) long.
Scientists
estimate that blue whales can live for at least 80 years;[24][40][41] however, since individual
records do not date back into the whaling era, this will not be known
with certainty for many years. The longest recorded study of a single
individual is 34 years, in the north-east Pacific.[37] The whales' only natural predator
is the Orca.[42] Studies report that as many
as 25% of mature blue whales have scars resulting from Orca attacks.
color: #0000FF;">[24] The mortality rate of such
attacks is unknown.
Blue
whale strandings are extremely uncommon, and, because of the species'
social structure, mass strandings are unheard of.[43] However, when strandings do
occur, they can become the focus of public interest. In 1920, a blue
whale washed up near Bragar on the
Lewis in the
Hebrides of
It had been shot in the head by whalers, but the harpoon had failed
to explode. As with other mammals, the fundamental instinct of the whale
was to try to carry on breathing at all costs, even though this meant
beaching to prevent itself from drowning. Two of the whale's bones were
erected just off a main road on Lewis and remain a tourist attraction.
color: #0000FF;">[44]
Vocalizations
See also: Whale song
Multimedia relating to the blue whale Note that | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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level of sounds made by blue whales are between 155 and 188
when measured relative to a reference pressure of one
at one metre.[45][46] All blue whale groups make
calls at a fundamental frequency of between 10 and 40
the lowest frequency sound a human can typically perceive is 20 Hz. Blue
whale calls last between ten and thirty seconds. Blue whales off the
coast of Sri Lanka have been repeatedly recorded making "songs"
of four notes duration lasting about two minutes each, reminiscent of
the well-known humpback whale songs. Researchers believe that as
this phenomenon has not been seen in any other populations, it may be
unique to the B. m. brevicauda (Pygmy) subspecies.
The reason for vocalization is unknown. Richardson et al. (1995) discuss six possible reasons:[47]
- Maintenance of inter-individual distance
- Species and individual recognition
- Contextual information transmission (e.g., feeding, alarm, courtship)
- Maintenance of social organization (e.g., contact calls between
females and males) - Location of topographic features
- Location of prey resources
Population
and whaling
Hunting
era
Main article:
of whaling
Blue whale populations have declined dramatically
due to commercial whaling.
that they were rarely pursued by early whalers, who instead targeted
and right whales.[48] In 1864, the Norwegian
Foyn equipped a
with harpoons specifically designed for catching large
whales.[3] Although initially cumbersome
and with a low success rate, Foyn perfected the harpoon gun, and soon
several whaling stations were established on the coast of
in northern Norway. Because of disputes with the local fishermen,
the last whaling station in Finnmark was closed down in 1904.
Soon,
blue whales were being hunted in
(1883), the Faroe Islands (1894),
(1898), and Spitsbergen (1903). In 1904-05 the first blue whales
were taken off South Georgia. By 1925, with the advent of the stern
slipway in factory ships and the use of steam-driven whale catchers,
the catch of blue whales, and baleen whales as a whole, in the Antarctic
and sub-Antarctic began to increase dramatically. Between 1930 and 1931,
these ships killed 29,400 blue whales in the Antarctic alone. By the
end of World War II, populations had been significantly
depleted, and, in 1946, the first quotas restricting international trade
in whales were introduced, but they were ineffective because of the
lack of differentiation between species. Rare species could be hunted
on an equal footing with those found in relative abundance.
Blue
whale hunting was banned in the 1960s by the
Whaling Commission,[49][50] and illegal whaling by
the USSR finally halted in the 1970s,[51] by which time 330,000 blue
whales had been killed in the Antarctic, 33,000 in the rest of the Southern
Hemisphere, 8,200 in the North Pacific, and 7,000 in the North Atlantic.
The largest original population, in the Antarctic, had been reduced
to 0.15% of their initial numbers.[10]
Population
and distribution today
A blue whale set against the backdrop of the
Image of a blue whale's tail fluke with the
Barbara Channel Islands in the background, August
2007
ascertain whether the
reliant global blue whale population is increasing
or remaining stable. In the Antarctic, best estimates show a significant
increase at 7.3% per year since the end of illegal Soviet whaling, but
numbers remain at under 1% of their original levels.[10] It has also been suggested
that Icelandic and Californian populations are increasing but these
increases are not statistically significant. The total world population
was estimated to be between 5,000 and 12,000 in 2002, although there
are high levels of uncertainty in available estimates for many areas.
color: #0000FF;">[8]
The
List counts the blue whale as "endangered"
as it has since the list's inception. In the
States, the
Marine Fisheries Service lists them as endangered
under the Endangered Species Act.[52] The largest known concentration,
consisting of about 2,000 individuals, is the North-East Pacific population
of the Northern blue whale (B. m. musculus) subspecies that ranges from
to Costa Rica but is most commonly seen from California
in summer. Infrequently, this population visits the North-West Pacific
between Kamchatka and the northern tip of Japan.
In
the North Atlantic, two stocks of B. m. musculus are recognized. The first is found off
and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. This group is estimated
to total about 500. The second, more easterly group is spotted from
the Azores in spring to Iceland in July and August;
it is presumed that the whales follow the
Ridge between the two volcanic islands. Beyond Iceland,
blue whales have been spotted as far north as
and Jan Mayen, though such sightings are rare. Scientists
do not know where these whales spend their winters. The total North
Atlantic population is estimated to be between 600 and 1,500.
In
the Southern Hemisphere, there appear to be two distinct subspecies,
m. intermedia, the Antarctic blue whale, and the little-studied
pygmy blue whale, B. m. brevicauda, found in Indian Ocean waters. The most recent
surveys (midpoint 1998) provided an estimate of 2,280 blue whales in
the Antarctic.[53], of which fewer than 1% are
likely to be pygmy blue whales[54] Estimates from a 1996 survey
were that 424 pygmy blue whales were in a small area south of
alone,[55] thus it is likely that numbers
in the entire Indian Ocean are in the thousands. If this is true, the
global numbers would be much higher than estimates predict.[9]
in 1859 in the northern Indian Ocean, but difficulties in identifying
distinguishing features for this subspecies led to it being used a synonym
for B. m. brevicauda, the pygmy blue whale. Records for Soviet
catches seem to indicate that the female adult size is closer to that
of the Pygmy Blue than B. m. musculus, although the populations of B. m. indica and B. m. brevicauda appear to be discrete, and the breeding seasons
differ by almost six months.[56]
Migratory
patterns of these subspecies are not well known. For example, pygmy
blue whales have been recorded in the northern Indian Ocean (
where they may form a distinct resident population.[56] In addition, the population
of blue whales occurring off
and Peru may also be a distinct population. Some Antarctic
blue whales approach the eastern South Atlantic coast in winter, and
occasionally, their vocalizations are heard off Peru, Western Australia,
and in the northern Indian Ocean.[56] In Chile, the
Conservation Center, with support from the
Navy, is undertaking extensive research and conservation
work on a recently discovered feeding aggregation of the species off
the coast of Chiloe Island in an area named "Golfo del Corcovado",
where 326 blue whales were spotted in the summer of 2007.[57]
Efforts
to calculate the blue whale population more accurately are supported
by marine mammologists at
who maintain the OBIS-SEAMAP (Ocean Biogeographic Information System—Spatial
Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations), a collation of marine
mammal sighting data from around 130 sources.[58]
Threats
other than hunting
A blue whale surfaces off Santa Cruz Island in the
Islands, near Santa Barbara, CA
have virtually no natural predators. There is, however, one documented
case in National Geographic Magazine
of a blue whale being attacked by
although the Orcas were unable to kill the animal outright during their
attack, the blue whale sustained massive wounds and probably died as
a result of them shortly after the attack.[59]
ocean vessels as well as becoming trapped or entangled in fishing gear.
color: #0000FF;">[60] The ever-increasing amount
of ocean noise, including
drowns out the vocalizations produced by whales, which may make it harder
for them to communicate.[60] Human threats to the potential
recovery of blue whale populations also include accumulation of
biphenyl (PCB) chemicals within the whale's body.
color: #0000FF;">[7]
With
warming causing glaciers and permafrost to melt rapidly
and allowing a large amount of fresh water to flow into the oceans,
there are concerns that if the amount of fresh water in the oceans reaches
a critical point, there will be a disruption in the
circulation.[
the blue whale's migratory patterns are based on ocean temperature,
a disruption in this circulation, which moves warm and cold water around
the world, would be likely to have an effect on their migration.
color: #0000FF;">[61] The whales summer in the cool,
high latitudes, where they feed in
waters; they winter in warmer, low latitudes, where they mate and give
birth.[62]
The
change in ocean temperature would also affect the blue whale's food
supply. The warming trend and decreased salinity levels would cause
a significant shift in krill location and abundance.[63]
Museums
Blue whale skeleton, outside the Long Marine Laboratory
at the University of California, Santa Cruz
contains a famous mounted skeleton and life-size model of a blue whale,
which were both the first of their kind in the world but have since
been replicated at the
of California, Santa Cruz. Similarly, the
Museum of Natural History in
City has a full-size model in its Milstein Family
Hall of Ocean Life.
The
of the Pacific in
California features a life-size model of a mother
blue whale with her calf suspended from the ceiling of its main hall.
color: #0000FF;">[64]
Whale-watching
cruises in the Gulf of Maine[65] and are the main attractions
along the north shore of the
Saint Lawrence and in the Saint Lawrence estuary.
color: #0000FF;">[60]
Footnotes
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James G., and Robert L. Brownell, Jr. (16 November 2005). Wilson, D.
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Clapham, P.J., Cooke, J., Donovan, G.P., Urbán, J. & Zerbini, A.N.
(2008). Balaenoptera musculus.
In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
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Records".
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How Stuff Works.
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de Koning and Geoff Wild (1997).
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Trent University.
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