Fin whales

Fin Whale
A fin whale surfaces in the Kenai Fjords, Alaska
Size compared to an average human
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Infraorder:	Cetacea
Family:	Balaenopteridae
Genus:	Balaenoptera
Species:	B. physalus
Binomial name
Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Subspecies
B.p.physalus B.p.quoyi
Fin whale range
Synonyms
Balaena boops L., 1758 B. antiquorum Fischer, 1829 B. quoyi Fischer, 1829 B. musculus Companyo, 1830 Balaenoptera rorqual Lacép., 1804 B. gibbar Lacép., 1804 B. mediterraneensis Lesson, 1828 B. jubartes Dewhurst, 1834 B. australis Gray, 1846 B. patachonicus Burmeister, 1865 B. velifera Cope, 1869 Physalis vulgaris Fleming, 1828 Rorqualus musculus F. Cuvier, 1836 Pterobalaena communis Van Beneden, 1857

The fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), also called the finback whale, razorback, or common rorqual, is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales. It is the second-largest animal after the blue whale. The largest reportedly grow to 27.3 m (89.6 ft) long with a maximum confirmed length of 25.9 m (85 ft), a maximum recorded weight of nearly 74 tonnes (73 long tons; 82 short tons), and a maximum estimated weight of around 114 tonnes (112 long tons; 126 short tons). American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews called the fin whale "the greyhound of the sea... for its beautiful, slender body is built like a racing yacht and the animal can surpass the speed of the fastest ocean steamship."

The fin whale's body is long and slender, coloured brownish-grey with a paler underside. The fin whale is a large baleen whale that belongs to the Cetacean order, which includes all species of whale, dolphin and porpoise. At least two recognized subspecies exist, in the North Atlantic and the Southern Hemisphere. It is found in all the major oceans, from polar to tropical waters. It is absent only from waters close to the ice pack at the poles and relatively small areas of water away from the open ocean. The highest population density occurs in temperate and cool waters. Its food consists of small schooling fish, squid, and crustaceans including copepods and krill.

Like all other large whales, the fin whale was heavily hunted during the 20th century and is an endangered species. Over 725,000 fin whales were reportedly taken from the Southern Hemisphere between 1905 and 1976, as of 1997 only 38,000 survived.

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