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The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale.Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 m (98 ft) and weighing up to 199 t (196 long tons; 219 short tons), it is the largest animal known ever to have existed.
Rorquals (/ ˈ r ɔːr k w əl z /) are the largest group of baleen whales, comprising the family Balaenopteridae, which contains nine extant species in two genera.They include the largest known animal that has ever lived, the blue whale, which can reach 180 tonnes (200 short tons), and the fin whale, which reaches 120 tonnes (130 short tons); even the smallest of the group, the northern minke ...
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/sex-based migration. Blue whales are filter feeders; their diet consists almost exclusively of krill. They are generally solitary or ...
The pygmy blue whale is the only one of the three identifiable subspecies to be found regularly in tropical waters. It occurs from the sub-Antarctic zone to the southern Indian Ocean and southwestern Pacific Ocean, breeding in the Indian and South Atlantic oceans, and travelling south to above the Antarctic to feed, [4] [7] although they very rarely cross the Antarctic Convergence.
There are approximately 89 [8] living species split into two parvorders: Odontoceti or toothed whales (containing porpoises, dolphins, other predatory whales like the beluga and the sperm whale, and the poorly understood beaked whales) and the filter feeding Mysticeti or baleen whales (which includes species like the blue whale, the humpback ...
Gray whales are typically observed alone or in small groups, though large groups may be seen at feeding or breeding grounds. Bird and her team conducted their research off Newport.
Marine biologist Peter Gill estimates that 100 blue whales visit the Bonney Upwelling area every year, ranging over 18,000 square kilometres (6,900 sq mi) of ocean from Robe, South Australia to Cape Otway in Victoria. The feeding grounds may extend further northwest, encompassing the rest of the GSACUS, but incomplete whale surveys are ...
Similar to its behavior with dolphins, whalesuckers are also known to change their position when feeding off blue whales, to avoid predation. [6] [8] While eliminating parasites from the whale, the whalesucker benefits by avoiding predators. The chance of mating also increases through habitual migration and food availability (i.e. parasites or ...