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Blue whale

January 31, 2023

For other uses, see Blue whale (disambiguation).

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 ft) and weighing up to 199 tonnes (196 long tons; 219 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 dorsally 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, B. m. indica in the Northern Indian Ocean. There is also a population in the waters off Chile that may constitute a fifth subspecies.

Blue whale
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene - Recent 1.5–0 Ma
↓
Adult blue whale
(Balaenoptera musculus)
Size compared to an average human
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Balaenopteridae
Genus: Balaenoptera
Species:
B. musculus
Binomial name
Balaenoptera musculus
Subspecies
  • B. m. brevicauda Ichihara, 1966
  • ?B. m. indica Blyth, 1859
  • B. m. intermedia Burmeister, 1871
  • B. m. musculus Linnaeus, 1758
Blue whale range (in blue)
Synonyms
  • Balaena musculus Linnaeus, 1758
  • Balaenoptera gibbar Scoresby, 1820
  • Pterobalaena gigas Van Beneden, 1861
  • Physalus latirostris Flower, 1864
  • Sibbaldius borealis Gray, 1866
  • Flowerius gigas Lilljeborg, 1867
  • Sibbaldius sulfureus Cope, 1869
  • Balaenoptera sibbaldii Sars, 1875

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 gather in small groups, and have no well-defined social structure other than mother-calf bonds. The fundamental frequency for blue whale vocalizations ranges from 8 to 25 Hz and the production of vocalizations may vary by region, season, behavior, and time of day. Orcas are their only natural predators.

The blue whale was once abundant in nearly all the Earth's oceans until the end of the 19th century. It was hunted almost to the point of extinction by whalers until the International Whaling Commission banned all blue whale hunting in 1966. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed blue whales as Endangered as of 2018. It continues to face numerous man-made threats such as ship strikes, pollution, ocean noise and climate change.

Taxonomy

See also: Evolution of cetaceans

Nomenclature

The genus name, Balaenoptera, means winged whale[3] while the species name, musculus, could mean "muscle" or a diminutive form of "mouse", possibly a pun by Carl Linnaeus[4][3] when he named the species in Systema Naturae.[5] One of the first published descriptions of a blue whale comes from Robert Sibbald's Phalainologia Nova,[6] 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.[7]

Blue whales were referred to as 'Sibbald's rorqual', after Robert Sibbald, who first described the species.[6] Herman Melville called the blue whale "sulphur bottom" in his novel Moby Dick[8] because of the accumulation of diatoms creating a yellowish appearance on their pale underside.[4][9]

Evolution

Balaenopteridae

Minke whale

B. musculus (blue whale)

B. borealis (sei whale)

Eschrichtius robustus (gray whale)

B. physalus (fin whale)

Megaptera novaeangliae (humpback whale)

A phylogenetic tree of six baleen whale species[10]

Blue whales are rorquals in the family Balaenopteridae. A 2018 analysis estimates that the Balaenopteridae family diverged from other families in between 10.48 and 4.98 million years ago during the late Miocene.[10] The earliest discovered anatomically modern blue whale is a partial skull fossil found in southern Italy, dating to the Early Pleistocene, roughly 1.5–1.25 million years ago.[11] The Australian pygmy blue whale diverged during the Last Glacial Maximum. Their more recent divergence has resulted in the subspecies having a relatively low genetic diversity,[12] and New Zealand blue whales have an even lower genetic diversity.[13]

Whole genome sequencing suggests that blue whales are most closely related to sei whales with gray whales as a sister group. This study also found significant gene flow between minke whales and the ancestors of the blue and sei whale. Blue whales also displayed high genetic diversity.[10]

Hybridization

Blue whales are known to interbreed with fin whales. The earliest description of a possible hybrid between a blue and fin whale was a 20-meter (65 ft) anomalous female whale with the features of both the blue and the fin whales taken in the North Pacific.[14] A whale captured off northwestern Spain in 1984, was found to have been the product of a blue whale mother and a fin whale father.[15]

Two live blue-fin whale hybrids have since been documented in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, (Canada), and in the Azores, (Portugal).[16] DNA tests done in Iceland on a blue whale killed in July 2018 by the Icelandic whaling company Hvalur hf, found that the whale was the offspring of a male fin whale and female blue whale;[17] however, the results are pending independent testing and verification of the samples. Because the International Whaling Commission classified blue whales as a "Protection Stock", trading their meat is illegal, and the kill is an infraction that must be reported.[18] Blue-fin hybrids have been detected from genetic analysis of whale meat samples taken from Japanese markets.[19] Blue-fin whale hybrids are capable of being fertile. Molecular tests on a 21-meter (70 ft) pregnant female whale caught off Iceland in 1986 found that it had a blue whale mother and a fin whale father, while its fetus was sired by a blue whale.[20]

There is reference to a humpback-blue whale hybrid in the South Pacific, attributed to marine biologist Michael Poole.[3][21]

Subspecies and stocks

At least four subspecies of blue whale are recognized, some of which are divided into population stocks or "management units".[22][23] They have a worldwide distribution, but are mostly absent from the Arctic Ocean and the Mediterranean, Okhotsk, and Bering Sea.[22]

 
Aerial view of adult blue whale
  • Northern subspecies (B. m. musculus)
    • North Atlantic population - This population is mainly documented from New England along eastern Canada to Greenland, particularly in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, during summer though some individuals may remain there all year. They also aggregate near Iceland and have increased their presence in the Norwegian Sea. They are reported to migrate south to the West Indies, the Azores and northwest Africa.[22]
    • Eastern North Pacific population - Whales in this region mostly feed off California from summer to fall and then Oregon, Washington State, the Alaska Gyre and Aleutian Islands later in the fall. During winter and spring, blue whales migrate south to the waters of Mexico, mostly the Gulf of California, and the Costa Rica Dome, where they both feed and breed.[22]
    • Central/Western Pacific population - This stock is documented around the Kamchatka Peninsula during the summer; some individuals may remain there year-round. They have been recorded wintering in Hawaiian waters, though some can be found in the Gulf of Alaska during fall and early winter.[22]
  • Northern Indian Ocean subspecies (B. m. indica) - This subspecies can be found year-round in the northwestern Indian Ocean, though some individuals have recorded travelling to the Crozet Islands during between summer and fall.[22]
  • Pygmy blue whale (B. m. brevicauda)
  • Antarctic subspecies (B. m. intermedia) - This subspecies includes all populations found around the Antarctic. They have been recorded to travel as far north as eastern tropical Pacific, the central Indian Ocean, and the waters of southwestern Australia and northern New Zealand.[22]

Blue whales off the Chilean coast may be a separate subspecies based on geographic separation, genetics, and unique song types.[24][25][26] Chilean blue whales may overlap in the Eastern Tropical Pacific with Antarctica blue whales and Eastern North Pacific blue whales. Chilean blue whales are genetically differentiated from Antarctica blue whales and are unlikely to be interbreeding. However, the genetic distinction is less with the Eastern North Pacific blue whale and there may be gene flow between hemispheres.[27]

Description

The blue whale is a slender-bodied cetacean with a broad U-shaped head; thin, elongated flippers; a small 33 centimeters (13 in) sickle-shaped dorsal fin located close to the tail and a large tail stock at the root of the wide and thin flukes. The upper jaw is lined with 70–395 black baleen plates. The throat region has 60–88 grooves which allows the skin to expand during feeding.[28][4][9][29][3] It has two blowholes that can squirt 9.1–12.2 meters (30–40 ft) up in the air.[28][9][3] The skin has a mottled grayish-blue coloration, appearing blue underwater.[28][4][9] The mottling patterns near the dorsal fin vary between individuals.[30][31][32] The underbelly has lighter pigmentation and can appear yellowish due to diatoms in the water,[28][4][9] which historically earned them the nickname "sulphur bottom".[8][33] The male blue whale has the largest penis in the animal kingdom, at around 3 m (9.8 ft) long and 12 in (30 cm) wide.[34]

Size

 
A blue whale skull measuring 5.8 meters (19 ft)

The blue whale is the largest known animal to have ever existed.[35][36][37] The International Whaling Commission (IWC) whaling database reports 88 individuals longer than 30 meters (98 ft), including one of 33 meters (108 ft), but problems with how the measurements were taken suggest that any longer than 30.5 meters (100 ft) are suspect.[38] The Discovery Committee reported lengths up to 31 meters (102 ft);[39] however, the longest scientifically measured individual blue whale was 30 meters (98 ft) from rostrum tip to tail notch.[40] Female blue whales are larger than males.[9][41] Hydrodynamic models suggest a blue whale could not exceed 108 ft (33 m) because of metabolic and energy constraints.[42]

The average length of sexually mature female blue whales is 22.0 meters (72.1 ft) for Eastern North Pacific blue whales, 24 meters (79 ft) for central and western North Pacific blue whales, 21–24 meters (68–78 ft) for North Atlantic blue whales, 25.4–26.3 meters (83.4–86.3 ft) for Antarctic blue whales, 23.5 meters (77.1 ft) for Chilean blue whales, and 21.3 meters (69.9 ft) for pygmy blue whales.[38][43][44]

In the Northern Hemisphere, males weigh an average 100 metric tons (220,000 lb) and females 112 metric tons (247,000 lb). Eastern North Pacific blue whale males average 88.5 tonnes (195,000 lb) and females 100 tonnes (220,000 lb). Antarctic males average 112 tonnes (247,000 lb) and females 130 tonnes (290,000 lb). Pygmy blue whale males average 83.5 tonnes (184,000 lb) to 99 tonnes (218,000 lb).[45] The weight measured of the heart from a stranded North Atlantic blue whale was 180 kg (400 lb), the largest known in any animal.[46]

The record-holder blue whale was recorded at 173 tonnes (190 short tons),[47] with estimates of up to 199 tonnes (220 short tons).[48]

Life span

Blue whales live around 80–90 years or more.[9] Scientists look at a blue whale's earwax or ear plug to estimate its age. Each year, a light and dark layer of wax is laid corresponding with fasting during migration and feeding time. Each set is thus an indicator of age.[49][50][51] The maximum age of a pygmy blue whale determined this way is 73 years.[52] In addition, female blue whales develop scars or corpora albicantia on their ovaries every time they ovulate.[53] In a female pygmy blue whale, one corpus albicans is formed on average every 2.6 years.[52]

Behavior

 
The blow hole of a blue whale

The blue whale is usually solitary, but can be found in pairs. When productivity is high enough, blue whales can be seen in gatherings of more than 50 individuals.[9] Populations may go on long migrations, traveling to their summer feeding grounds towards the poles and then heading to their winter breeding grounds in more equatorial waters.[54] The animals appear to use memory to locate the best feeding areas.[55] There is evidence of alternative strategies, such as year-round residency, and partial (where only some individuals migrate) or age/sex-based migration. Some whales have been recorded feeding in breeding grounds.[56] The traveling speed for blue whales ranges 5–30 kilometers per hour (3.1–18.6 mph).[9]

The greatest dive depth reported from tagged blue whales was 315 meters (1,033 ft).[57] Their theoretical aerobic dive limit was estimated at 31.2 minutes,[58] however, the longest dive measured was 15.2 minutes.[57] The deepest confirmed dive from a pygmy blue whale was 510 meters (1,660 ft).[59] A blue whale's heart rate can drop to 2 beats per minute (bpm) at deep depths, but upon surfacing, can rise to 37 bpm, which is close to its peak heart rate.[60]

Diet and feeding

 
The small dorsal fin of this blue whale is just visible on the far left.

The blue whale's diet consists almost exclusively of krill.[9] Blue whales capture krill through lunge feeding, they swim towards them at high speeds as they open their mouths up to 80°[9][57] They may engulf 220 metric tons (220 long tons; 240 short tons) of water at one time.[61] They squeeze the water out through their baleen plates with pressure from the throat pouch and tongue, and swallow the remaining krill.[9][57] Blue whales have been recorded making 180° rolls during lunge-feeding, possibly allowing them to search the prey field and find the densest patches.[62]

While pursuing krill patches, blue whales maximize their calorie intake by increasing the number of lunges while selecting the thickest patches. This provides them enough energy for everyday activities while storing additional energy necessary for migration and reproduction. Blue whales have to engulf densities greater than 100 krill/m3 to maintain the cost of lunge feeding.[57][63] They can consume 34,776–1,912,680 kilojoules (8,312–457,141 kcal) from one mouthful of krill, which can provide up to 240 times more energy than used in a single lunge.[57] It is estimated that an average-sized blue whale must consume 1,120 ± 359 kilograms (2,469 ± 791 lb) of krill a day.[64][65]

Blue whales appear to avoid directly competing with other baleen whales.[66][67][68] Different whale species select different feeding spaces and times as well as different prey species.[69][70][61] In the Southern Ocean, baleen whales appear to feed on Antarctic krill of different sizes, which may lessen competition between them.[71]

Reproduction and birth

 
A blue whale calf with its mother

Blue whales generally reach sexual maturity at 8–10 years. In the Northern Hemisphere, the length at which they reach maturity is 21–23 meters (69–75 ft) for females and 20–21 meters (66–69 ft) for males. In the Southern Hemisphere, the length of maturity is 23–24 meters (75–79 ft) and 22 meters (72 ft) for females and males respectively.[72] Male pygmy blue whales average 18.7 meters (61.4 ft) at sexual maturity.[73][74] Female pygmy blue whales are 21.0–21.7 meters (68.9–71.2 ft) in length[43] and roughly 10 years old at the age of sexual maturity.[43][44][75] Little is known about mating behavior, or breeding and birthing areas.[37][72] Blue whales appear to be polygynous, with males competing for females.[72][76] A male blue whale typically trails a female and will fight off potential rivals.[77] The species mates from fall to winter.[37][72]

Pregnant females eat roughly four percent of their body weight daily,[78] amounting to 60% of their overall body weight throughout summer foraging periods.[72][79] Gestation may last 10–12 months with calves being 6–7 meters (20–23 ft) long and weighing 2–3 metric tons (2.0–3.0 long tons; 2.2–3.3 short tons) at birth.[72] Estimates suggest that because calves require 2–4 kilograms (4.4–8.8 lb) milk per kg of mass gain, blue whales likely produce 220 kilograms (490 lb) of milk per day (ranging from 110 to 320 kilograms (240 to 710 lb) of milk per day).[80] The first video of a calf thought to be nursing was filmed in New Zealand in 2016.[81] Calves may be weaned when they reach 6–8 months old at a length of 16 meters (53 ft).[72] They gain roughly 37,500 pounds (17,000 kg) during the weaning period.[36] Interbirth periods last two to three years,[72] they average 2.6 years in pygmy blue whales.[52]

Vocalizations

 
A blue whale song
Recorded in the Atlantic (1)
A blue whale song
Recorded in the Atlantic (2)
A blue whale song
Recorded in North Eastern Pacific
A blue whale song
Recorded in the South Pacific
A blue whale song
Recorded in the West Pacific
Problems playing these files? See media help.

Blue whales produce some of the loudest and lowest frequency vocalizations in the animal kingdom.[22] and their inner ears appear well adapted for detecting low-frequency sounds.[82] The fundamental frequency for blue whale vocalizations ranges from 8 to 25 Hz.[83] Blue whale songs vary between populations.[84]

Vocalizations produced by the Eastern North Pacific population have been well studied. This population produces pulsed calls ("A") and tonal calls ("B"), upswept tones that precede type B calls ("C") and separate downswept tones ("D").[85][86] A and B calls are often produced in repeated co-occurring sequences and sung only by males, suggesting a reproductive function.[86][87] D calls may have multiple functions. They are produced by both sexes during social interactions while feeding.[87][88] and by males when competing for mates.[77]

Blue whale calls recorded off Sri Lanka have a three‐unit phrase. The first unit is a 19.8 to 43.5 Hz pulsive call, and is normally 17.9 ± 5.2 seconds long. The second unit is a 55.9 to 72.4 Hz FM upsweep that is 13.8 ± 1.1 seconds long. The final unit is 28.5 ± 1.6 seconds long with a tone of 108 to 104.7 Hz.[89] A blue whale call recorded off Madagascar, a two‐unit phrase,[90] consists of 5–7 pulses with a center frequency of 35.1 ± 0.7 Hz lasting 4.4 ± 0.5 seconds proceeding a 35 ± 0 Hz tone that is 10.9 ± 1.1 seconds long.[89] In the Southern Ocean, blue whales produce 18-second vocals which start with a 9-second-long, 27 Hz tone, and then a 1-second downsweep to 19 Hz, followed by a downsweep further to 18 Hz.[91][92] Other vocalizations include 1–4 second long, frequency-modulated calls with a frequency of 80 and 38 Hz.[92][93]

There is evidence that some blue whale songs have temporally declined in tonal frequency.[94][95][96] The vocalization of blue whales in the Eastern North Pacific decreased in tonal frequency by 31% from the early 1960s to the early 21st century.[94][95] The frequency of pygmy blue whales in the Antarctic has decreased by a few tenths of a hertz every year starting in 2002.[96] It is possible that as blue whale populations recover from whaling, there is increasing sexual selection pressure (i.e., a lower frequency indicates a larger body size).[95]

Predators and parasites

The only known natural predator to blue whales is the orca, although the rate of fatal attacks by orcas is unknown. Photograph-identification studies of blue whales have estimated that a high proportion of the individuals in the Gulf of California have rake-like scars, indicative of encounters with orcas.[97] Off southeastern Australia, 3.7% of blue whales photographed had rake marks and 42.1% of photographed pygmy blue whales off Western Australia had rake marks.[98] Documented predation by orcas has been rare. A blue whale mother and calf were first observed being chased at high speeds by orcas off southeastern Australia.[99] The first documented attack occurred in 1977 off southwestern Baja California, Mexico, but the injured whale escaped after five hours.[100] Four more blue whales were documented as being chased by a group of orcas between 1982 and 2003.[101] The first documented predation event by orcas occurred in September 2003, when a group of orcas in the Eastern Tropical Pacific was encountered feeding on a recently killed blue whale calf.[102] In March 2014, a commercial whale watch boat operator recorded an incident involving a group of orcas harassing a blue whale in Monterey Bay. The blue whale defended itself by slapping its tail.[103] A similar incident was recorded by a drone in Monterey Bay in May 2017.[104] The first direct observations of orca predation occurred off the south coast of Western Australia, two in 2019 and one more in 2021. The first victim was estimated to be 18–22 meters (59–72 ft).[105]

In Antarctic waters, blue whales accumulate diatoms of the species Cocconeis ceticola and the genera Navicola, which are normally removed when the whales enter warmer waters. Other external parasites include barnacles such as Coronula diadema, Coronula reginae and Cryptolepas rhachianecti, which latch on their skin deep enough to leave behind a pit if removed. Whale lice species make their home in cracks of the skin and are relatively harmless. The copepod species Pennella balaenopterae digs in and attaches itself to the blubber to feed on. Intestinal parasites include the trematode genera Ogmogaster and Lecithodesmus, the tapeworm genera Priapocephalus, Phyllobotrium, Tetrabothrius, Diphyllobotrium and Diplogonoporus and the thorny-headed worm genus Bolbosoma. In the North Atlantic, blue whales also contain the protozoans Entamoeba, Giardia and Balantidium.[106]

Conservation

The global blue whale population is estimated to be 5,000–15,000 mature individuals and 10,000-25,000 total as of 2018. By comparison, there were at least 140,000 mature whales in 1926. There are an estimated total of 1,000–3,000 whales in the North Atlantic, 3,000–5,000 in the North Pacific and 5,000–8,000 in the Antarctic. There are possibly 1,000–3,000 whales in the eastern South Pacific while the pygmy blue whale may number 2,000–5,000 individuals.[1] Blue whales have been protected in areas of the Southern Hemisphere since 1939. In 1955 they were given complete protection in the North Atlantic under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling; this protection was extended to the Antarctic in 1965 and the North Pacific in 1966.[107][108] The protected status of North Atlantic blue whales was not recognized by Iceland until 1960.[109] In the US, the species is protected under the Endangered Species Act.[54]

Blue whales are formally classified as endangered under both the US Endangered Species Act[110] and the IUCN Red List.[1] They are also listed on Appendix I under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)[111] and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.[112] Although for some populations there is not enough information on current abundance trends (e.g., pygmy blue whales), others are critically endangered (e.g., Antarctic blue whales).[113][114]

Threats

 
Dead blue whale on flensing platform

Blue whales were initially difficult to hunt because of their size and speed.[22] This began to change in the mid-19th century with the development of harpoons that can be shot as projectiles.[115] Blue whale whaling peaked between 1930 and 1931 with 30,000 animals taken. Harvesting of the species was particularly high in the Antarctic, with 350,000–360,000 whales taken in the first half of the 20th century. In addition, 11,000 North Atlantic whales (mostly around Iceland) and 9,500 North Pacific whales were killed during the same period.[72] The International Whaling Commission banned all hunting of blue whales in 1966 and gave them worldwide protection.[116] However, the Soviet Union continued to illegally hunt blue whales and other species through to the 1970s.[117]

 
Researchers examine a dead blue whale killed by collision with a ship

Ship strikes are a significant mortality factor for blue whales, especially off the U.S. West Coast,[118] A total of 17 blue whales were killed or suspected to have been killed by ships between 1998 and 2019 off the US West Coast.[22] Five deaths in 2007 off California were considered an unusual mortality event, as defined under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.[118][119] Lethal ship strikes are also a problem in Sri Lankan waters, where their habitat intersects with one of the world's most active shipping routes.[120] Here, strikes caused the deaths of eleven blue whales in 2010 and 2012,[121] and at least two in 2014.[122] Ship strike mortality claimed the lives of two blue whales off southern Chile in the 2010s.[123][124] Possible measures for reducing future ship strikes include better predictive models of whale distribution, changes in shipping lanes, vessel speed reductions, and seasonal and dynamic management of shipping lanes.[125][126] Few cases of blue whale entanglement in commercial fishing gear have been documented. The first report in the U.S. occurred off California in 2015, reportedly some type of deep-water trap/pot fishery.[127] Three more entanglement cases were reported in 2016.[128] In Sri Lanka, a blue whale was documented with a net wrapped through its mouth, along the sides of its body, and wound around its tail.[129]

Increasing man-made underwater noise impacts blue whales.[130][131] They may be exposed to noise from commercial shipping[132][133] and seismic surveys as a part of oil and gas exploration.[134][135] Blue whales in the Southern California Bight decreased calling in the presence of mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar.[136] Exposure to simulated MFA sonar was found to interrupt blue whale deep-dive feeding but no changes in behavior were observed in individuals feeding at shallower depths. The responses also depended on the animal's behavioral state, its (horizontal) distance from the sound source and the availability of prey.[137]

The potential impacts of pollutants on blue whales is unknown. However, because blue whales feed low on the food chain, there is a lesser chance for bioaccumulation of organic chemical contaminants.[138] Analysis of the earwax of a male blue whale killed by a collision with a ship off the coast of California showed contaminants like pesticides, flame retardants, and mercury. Reconstructed persistent organic pollutant (POP) profiles suggested that a substantial maternal transfer occurred during gestation and/or lactation.[139] Male blue whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada were found to have higher concentrations of PCBs, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), metabolites, and several other organochlorine compounds relative to females, reflecting maternal transfer of these persistent contaminants from females into young.[140]

See also

References

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Further reading

  • Calambokidis, J. & Steiger, G. (1998). Blue Whales. Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-0-89658-338-2.
  • "Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus". MarineBio.org. Retrieved 21 April 2006.
  • NOAA Fisheries, Office of Protected Resources Blue whale biology & status

External links

Listen to this article (20 minutes)
 
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  • – Cornell Lab of Ornithology—Bioacoustics Research Program (archived 26 February 2015)
  • Blue whale video clips and news from the BBC – BBC Wildlife Finder
  • Voices in the Sea – Sounds of the Blue Whale
  • NOAA Stock Assessments
  • Life of a Hunter: Blue Whale 31 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine – BBC America
  • Living With Predators – BBC America

January 31, 2023
blue, whale, other, uses, disambiguation, blue, whale, balaenoptera, musculus, marine, mammal, baleen, whale, reaching, maximum, confirmed, length, meters, weighing, tonnes, long, tons, short, tons, largest, animal, known, have, ever, existed, blue, whale, lon. For other uses see Blue whale disambiguation The blue whale Balaenoptera musculus is a marine mammal and a baleen whale Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29 9 meters 98 ft and weighing up to 199 tonnes 196 long tons 219 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 dorsally 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 B m indica in the Northern Indian Ocean There is also a population in the waters off Chile that may constitute a fifth subspecies Blue whaleTemporal range Early Pleistocene Recent 1 5 0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Adult blue whale Balaenoptera musculus Size compared to an average humanConservation statusEndangered IUCN 3 1 1 CITES Appendix I CITES 2 Scientific classificationKingdom AnimaliaPhylum ChordataClass MammaliaOrder ArtiodactylaInfraorder CetaceaFamily BalaenopteridaeGenus BalaenopteraSpecies B musculusBinomial nameBalaenoptera musculus Linnaeus 1758 SubspeciesB m brevicauda Ichihara 1966 B m indica Blyth 1859 B m intermedia Burmeister 1871 B m musculus Linnaeus 1758Blue whale range in blue SynonymsBalaena musculus Linnaeus 1758 Balaenoptera gibbar Scoresby 1820 Pterobalaena gigas Van Beneden 1861 Physalus latirostris Flower 1864 Sibbaldius borealis Gray 1866 Flowerius gigas Lilljeborg 1867 Sibbaldius sulfureus Cope 1869 Balaenoptera sibbaldii Sars 1875In 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 gather in small groups and have no well defined social structure other than mother calf bonds The fundamental frequency for blue whale vocalizations ranges from 8 to 25 Hz and the production of vocalizations may vary by region season behavior and time of day Orcas are their only natural predators The blue whale was once abundant in nearly all the Earth s oceans until the end of the 19th century It was hunted almost to the point of extinction by whalers until the International Whaling Commission banned all blue whale hunting in 1966 The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed blue whales as Endangered as of 2018 It continues to face numerous man made threats such as ship strikes pollution ocean noise and climate change Contents 1 Taxonomy 1 1 Nomenclature 1 2 Evolution 1 2 1 Hybridization 1 3 Subspecies and stocks 2 Description 2 1 Size 2 2 Life span 3 Behavior 3 1 Diet and feeding 3 2 Reproduction and birth 3 3 Vocalizations 3 4 Predators and parasites 4 Conservation 4 1 Threats 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksTaxonomySee also Evolution of cetaceans Nomenclature The genus name Balaenoptera means winged whale 3 while the species name musculus could mean muscle or a diminutive form of mouse possibly a pun by Carl Linnaeus 4 3 when he named the species in Systema Naturae 5 One of the first published descriptions of a blue whale comes from Robert Sibbald s Phalainologia Nova 6 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 blahval 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 7 Blue whales were referred to as Sibbald s rorqual after Robert Sibbald who first described the species 6 Herman Melville called the blue whale sulphur bottom in his novel Moby Dick 8 because of the accumulation of diatoms creating a yellowish appearance on their pale underside 4 9 Evolution Balaenopteridae Minke whaleB musculus blue whale B borealis sei whale Eschrichtius robustus gray whale B physalus fin whale Megaptera novaeangliae humpback whale A phylogenetic tree of six baleen whale species 10 Blue whales are rorquals in the family Balaenopteridae A 2018 analysis estimates that the Balaenopteridae family diverged from other families in between 10 48 and 4 98 million years ago during the late Miocene 10 The earliest discovered anatomically modern blue whale is a partial skull fossil found in southern Italy dating to the Early Pleistocene roughly 1 5 1 25 million years ago 11 The Australian pygmy blue whale diverged during the Last Glacial Maximum Their more recent divergence has resulted in the subspecies having a relatively low genetic diversity 12 and New Zealand blue whales have an even lower genetic diversity 13 Whole genome sequencing suggests that blue whales are most closely related to sei whales with gray whales as a sister group This study also found significant gene flow between minke whales and the ancestors of the blue and sei whale Blue whales also displayed high genetic diversity 10 Hybridization Blue whales are known to interbreed with fin whales The earliest description of a possible hybrid between a blue and fin whale was a 20 meter 65 ft anomalous female whale with the features of both the blue and the fin whales taken in the North Pacific 14 A whale captured off northwestern Spain in 1984 was found to have been the product of a blue whale mother and a fin whale father 15 Two live blue fin whale hybrids have since been documented in the Gulf of St Lawrence Canada and in the Azores Portugal 16 DNA tests done in Iceland on a blue whale killed in July 2018 by the Icelandic whaling company Hvalur hf found that the whale was the offspring of a male fin whale and female blue whale 17 however the results are pending independent testing and verification of the samples Because the International Whaling Commission classified blue whales as a Protection Stock trading their meat is illegal and the kill is an infraction that must be reported 18 Blue fin hybrids have been detected from genetic analysis of whale meat samples taken from Japanese markets 19 Blue fin whale hybrids are capable of being fertile Molecular tests on a 21 meter 70 ft pregnant female whale caught off Iceland in 1986 found that it had a blue whale mother and a fin whale father while its fetus was sired by a blue whale 20 There is reference to a humpback blue whale hybrid in the South Pacific attributed to marine biologist Michael Poole 3 21 Subspecies and stocks At least four subspecies of blue whale are recognized some of which are divided into population stocks or management units 22 23 They have a worldwide distribution but are mostly absent from the Arctic Ocean and the Mediterranean Okhotsk and Bering Sea 22 Aerial view of adult blue whale Northern subspecies B m musculus North Atlantic population This population is mainly documented from New England along eastern Canada to Greenland particularly in the Gulf of St Lawrence during summer though some individuals may remain there all year They also aggregate near Iceland and have increased their presence in the Norwegian Sea They are reported to migrate south to the West Indies the Azores and northwest Africa 22 Eastern North Pacific population Whales in this region mostly feed off California from summer to fall and then Oregon Washington State the Alaska Gyre and Aleutian Islands later in the fall During winter and spring blue whales migrate south to the waters of Mexico mostly the Gulf of California and the Costa Rica Dome where they both feed and breed 22 Central Western Pacific population This stock is documented around the Kamchatka Peninsula during the summer some individuals may remain there year round They have been recorded wintering in Hawaiian waters though some can be found in the Gulf of Alaska during fall and early winter 22 Northern Indian Ocean subspecies B m indica This subspecies can be found year round in the northwestern Indian Ocean though some individuals have recorded travelling to the Crozet Islands during between summer and fall 22 Pygmy blue whale B m brevicauda Madagascar population This population migrates between the Seychelles and Amirante Islands in the north and the Crozet Islands and Prince Edward Islands in the south were they feed passing through the Mozambique Channel 22 Australia Indonesia population Whales in this region appear to winter off Indonesia and migrate to their summer feeding grounds off the coast of Western Australia with major concentrations at Perth Canyon and an area stretching from the Great Australian Bight and Bass Strait 22 Eastern Australia New Zealand population This stock may reside in the Tasman Sea and the Lau Basin in winter and feed mostly in the South Taranaki Bight and off the coast of eastern North Island Blue whales have been detected around New Zealand throughout the year 22 Antarctic subspecies B m intermedia This subspecies includes all populations found around the Antarctic They have been recorded to travel as far north as eastern tropical Pacific the central Indian Ocean and the waters of southwestern Australia and northern New Zealand 22 Blue whales off the Chilean coast may be a separate subspecies based on geographic separation genetics and unique song types 24 25 26 Chilean blue whales may overlap in the Eastern Tropical Pacific with Antarctica blue whales and Eastern North Pacific blue whales Chilean blue whales are genetically differentiated from Antarctica blue whales and are unlikely to be interbreeding However the genetic distinction is less with the Eastern North Pacific blue whale and there may be gene flow between hemispheres 27 DescriptionThe blue whale is a slender bodied cetacean with a broad U shaped head thin elongated flippers a small 33 centimeters 13 in sickle shaped dorsal fin located close to the tail and a large tail stock at the root of the wide and thin flukes The upper jaw is lined with 70 395 black baleen plates The throat region has 60 88 grooves which allows the skin to expand during feeding 28 4 9 29 3 It has two blowholes that can squirt 9 1 12 2 meters 30 40 ft up in the air 28 9 3 The skin has a mottled grayish blue coloration appearing blue underwater 28 4 9 The mottling patterns near the dorsal fin vary between individuals 30 31 32 The underbelly has lighter pigmentation and can appear yellowish due to diatoms in the water 28 4 9 which historically earned them the nickname sulphur bottom 8 33 The male blue whale has the largest penis in the animal kingdom at around 3 m 9 8 ft long and 12 in 30 cm wide 34 Size A blue whale skull measuring 5 8 meters 19 ft The blue whale is the largest known animal to have ever existed 35 36 37 The International Whaling Commission IWC whaling database reports 88 individuals longer than 30 meters 98 ft including one of 33 meters 108 ft but problems with how the measurements were taken suggest that any longer than 30 5 meters 100 ft are suspect 38 The Discovery Committee reported lengths up to 31 meters 102 ft 39 however the longest scientifically measured individual blue whale was 30 meters 98 ft from rostrum tip to tail notch 40 Female blue whales are larger than males 9 41 Hydrodynamic models suggest a blue whale could not exceed 108 ft 33 m because of metabolic and energy constraints 42 The average length of sexually mature female blue whales is 22 0 meters 72 1 ft for Eastern North Pacific blue whales 24 meters 79 ft for central and western North Pacific blue whales 21 24 meters 68 78 ft for North Atlantic blue whales 25 4 26 3 meters 83 4 86 3 ft for Antarctic blue whales 23 5 meters 77 1 ft for Chilean blue whales and 21 3 meters 69 9 ft for pygmy blue whales 38 43 44 In the Northern Hemisphere males weigh an average 100 metric tons 220 000 lb and females 112 metric tons 247 000 lb Eastern North Pacific blue whale males average 88 5 tonnes 195 000 lb and females 100 tonnes 220 000 lb Antarctic males average 112 tonnes 247 000 lb and females 130 tonnes 290 000 lb Pygmy blue whale males average 83 5 tonnes 184 000 lb to 99 tonnes 218 000 lb 45 The weight measured of the heart from a stranded North Atlantic blue whale was 180 kg 400 lb the largest known in any animal 46 The record holder blue whale was recorded at 173 tonnes 190 short tons 47 with estimates of up to 199 tonnes 220 short tons 48 Life span Blue whales live around 80 90 years or more 9 Scientists look at a blue whale s earwax or ear plug to estimate its age Each year a light and dark layer of wax is laid corresponding with fasting during migration and feeding time Each set is thus an indicator of age 49 50 51 The maximum age of a pygmy blue whale determined this way is 73 years 52 In addition female blue whales develop scars or corpora albicantia on their ovaries every time they ovulate 53 In a female pygmy blue whale one corpus albicans is formed on average every 2 6 years 52 Behavior The blow hole of a blue whale The blue whale is usually solitary but can be found in pairs When productivity is high enough blue whales can be seen in gatherings of more than 50 individuals 9 Populations may go on long migrations traveling to their summer feeding grounds towards the poles and then heading to their winter breeding grounds in more equatorial waters 54 The animals appear to use memory to locate the best feeding areas 55 There is evidence of alternative strategies such as year round residency and partial where only some individuals migrate or age sex based migration Some whales have been recorded feeding in breeding grounds 56 The traveling speed for blue whales ranges 5 30 kilometers per hour 3 1 18 6 mph 9 The greatest dive depth reported from tagged blue whales was 315 meters 1 033 ft 57 Their theoretical aerobic dive limit was estimated at 31 2 minutes 58 however the longest dive measured was 15 2 minutes 57 The deepest confirmed dive from a pygmy blue whale was 510 meters 1 660 ft 59 A blue whale s heart rate can drop to 2 beats per minute bpm at deep depths but upon surfacing can rise to 37 bpm which is close to its peak heart rate 60 Diet and feeding The small dorsal fin of this blue whale is just visible on the far left The blue whale s diet consists almost exclusively of krill 9 Blue whales capture krill through lunge feeding they swim towards them at high speeds as they open their mouths up to 80 9 57 They may engulf 220 metric tons 220 long tons 240 short tons of water at one time 61 They squeeze the water out through their baleen plates with pressure from the throat pouch and tongue and swallow the remaining krill 9 57 Blue whales have been recorded making 180 rolls during lunge feeding possibly allowing them to search the prey field and find the densest patches 62 While pursuing krill patches blue whales maximize their calorie intake by increasing the number of lunges while selecting the thickest patches This provides them enough energy for everyday activities while storing additional energy necessary for migration and reproduction Blue whales have to engulf densities greater than 100 krill m3 to maintain the cost of lunge feeding 57 63 They can consume 34 776 1 912 680 kilojoules 8 312 457 141 kcal from one mouthful of krill which can provide up to 240 times more energy than used in a single lunge 57 It is estimated that an average sized blue whale must consume 1 120 359 kilograms 2 469 791 lb of krill a day 64 65 Blue whales appear to avoid directly competing with other baleen whales 66 67 68 Different whale species select different feeding spaces and times as well as different prey species 69 70 61 In the Southern Ocean baleen whales appear to feed on Antarctic krill of different sizes which may lessen competition between them 71 Reproduction and birth A blue whale calf with its mother Blue whales generally reach sexual maturity at 8 10 years In the Northern Hemisphere the length at which they reach maturity is 21 23 meters 69 75 ft for females and 20 21 meters 66 69 ft for males In the Southern Hemisphere the length of maturity is 23 24 meters 75 79 ft and 22 meters 72 ft for females and males respectively 72 Male pygmy blue whales average 18 7 meters 61 4 ft at sexual maturity 73 74 Female pygmy blue whales are 21 0 21 7 meters 68 9 71 2 ft in length 43 and roughly 10 years old at the age of sexual maturity 43 44 75 Little is known about mating behavior or breeding and birthing areas 37 72 Blue whales appear to be polygynous with males competing for females 72 76 A male blue whale typically trails a female and will fight off potential rivals 77 The species mates from fall to winter 37 72 Pregnant females eat roughly four percent of their body weight daily 78 amounting to 60 of their overall body weight throughout summer foraging periods 72 79 Gestation may last 10 12 months with calves being 6 7 meters 20 23 ft long and weighing 2 3 metric tons 2 0 3 0 long tons 2 2 3 3 short tons at birth 72 Estimates suggest that because calves require 2 4 kilograms 4 4 8 8 lb milk per kg of mass gain blue whales likely produce 220 kilograms 490 lb of milk per day ranging from 110 to 320 kilograms 240 to 710 lb of milk per day 80 The first video of a calf thought to be nursing was filmed in New Zealand in 2016 81 Calves may be weaned when they reach 6 8 months old at a length of 16 meters 53 ft 72 They gain roughly 37 500 pounds 17 000 kg during the weaning period 36 Interbirth periods last two to three years 72 they average 2 6 years in pygmy blue whales 52 Vocalizations A blue whale song source source Recorded in the Atlantic 1 A blue whale song source source Recorded in the Atlantic 2 A blue whale song source source Recorded in North Eastern PacificA blue whale song source source Recorded in the South PacificA blue whale song source source Recorded in the West Pacific Problems playing these files See media help Blue whales produce some of the loudest and lowest frequency vocalizations in the animal kingdom 22 and their inner ears appear well adapted for detecting low frequency sounds 82 The fundamental frequency for blue whale vocalizations ranges from 8 to 25 Hz 83 Blue whale songs vary between populations 84 Vocalizations produced by the Eastern North Pacific population have been well studied This population produces pulsed calls A and tonal calls B upswept tones that precede type B calls C and separate downswept tones D 85 86 A and B calls are often produced in repeated co occurring sequences and sung only by males suggesting a reproductive function 86 87 D calls may have multiple functions They are produced by both sexes during social interactions while feeding 87 88 and by males when competing for mates 77 Blue whale calls recorded off Sri Lanka have a three unit phrase The first unit is a 19 8 to 43 5 Hz pulsive call and is normally 17 9 5 2 seconds long The second unit is a 55 9 to 72 4 Hz FM upsweep that is 13 8 1 1 seconds long The final unit is 28 5 1 6 seconds long with a tone of 108 to 104 7 Hz 89 A blue whale call recorded off Madagascar a two unit phrase 90 consists of 5 7 pulses with a center frequency of 35 1 0 7 Hz lasting 4 4 0 5 seconds proceeding a 35 0 Hz tone that is 10 9 1 1 seconds long 89 In the Southern Ocean blue whales produce 18 second vocals which start with a 9 second long 27 Hz tone and then a 1 second downsweep to 19 Hz followed by a downsweep further to 18 Hz 91 92 Other vocalizations include 1 4 second long frequency modulated calls with a frequency of 80 and 38 Hz 92 93 There is evidence that some blue whale songs have temporally declined in tonal frequency 94 95 96 The vocalization of blue whales in the Eastern North Pacific decreased in tonal frequency by 31 from the early 1960s to the early 21st century 94 95 The frequency of pygmy blue whales in the Antarctic has decreased by a few tenths of a hertz every year starting in 2002 96 It is possible that as blue whale populations recover from whaling there is increasing sexual selection pressure i e a lower frequency indicates a larger body size 95 Predators and parasites The only known natural predator to blue whales is the orca although the rate of fatal attacks by orcas is unknown Photograph identification studies of blue whales have estimated that a high proportion of the individuals in the Gulf of California have rake like scars indicative of encounters with orcas 97 Off southeastern Australia 3 7 of blue whales photographed had rake marks and 42 1 of photographed pygmy blue whales off Western Australia had rake marks 98 Documented predation by orcas has been rare A blue whale mother and calf were first observed being chased at high speeds by orcas off southeastern Australia 99 The first documented attack occurred in 1977 off southwestern Baja California Mexico but the injured whale escaped after five hours 100 Four more blue whales were documented as being chased by a group of orcas between 1982 and 2003 101 The first documented predation event by orcas occurred in September 2003 when a group of orcas in the Eastern Tropical Pacific was encountered feeding on a recently killed blue whale calf 102 In March 2014 a commercial whale watch boat operator recorded an incident involving a group of orcas harassing a blue whale in Monterey Bay The blue whale defended itself by slapping its tail 103 A similar incident was recorded by a drone in Monterey Bay in May 2017 104 The first direct observations of orca predation occurred off the south coast of Western Australia two in 2019 and one more in 2021 The first victim was estimated to be 18 22 meters 59 72 ft 105 In Antarctic waters blue whales accumulate diatoms of the species Cocconeis ceticola and the genera Navicola which are normally removed when the whales enter warmer waters Other external parasites include barnacles such as Coronula diadema Coronula reginae and Cryptolepas rhachianecti which latch on their skin deep enough to leave behind a pit if removed Whale lice species make their home in cracks of the skin and are relatively harmless The copepod species Pennella balaenopterae digs in and attaches itself to the blubber to feed on Intestinal parasites include the trematode genera Ogmogaster and Lecithodesmus the tapeworm genera Priapocephalus Phyllobotrium Tetrabothrius Diphyllobotrium and Diplogonoporus and the thorny headed worm genus Bolbosoma In the North Atlantic blue whales also contain the protozoans Entamoeba Giardia and Balantidium 106 ConservationThe global blue whale population is estimated to be 5 000 15 000 mature individuals and 10 000 25 000 total as of 2018 By comparison there were at least 140 000 mature whales in 1926 There are an estimated total of 1 000 3 000 whales in the North Atlantic 3 000 5 000 in the North Pacific and 5 000 8 000 in the Antarctic There are possibly 1 000 3 000 whales in the eastern South Pacific while the pygmy blue whale may number 2 000 5 000 individuals 1 Blue whales have been protected in areas of the Southern Hemisphere since 1939 In 1955 they were given complete protection in the North Atlantic under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling this protection was extended to the Antarctic in 1965 and the North Pacific in 1966 107 108 The protected status of North Atlantic blue whales was not recognized by Iceland until 1960 109 In the US the species is protected under the Endangered Species Act 54 Blue whales are formally classified as endangered under both the US Endangered Species Act 110 and the IUCN Red List 1 They are also listed on Appendix I under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES 111 and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals 112 Although for some populations there is not enough information on current abundance trends e g pygmy blue whales others are critically endangered e g Antarctic blue whales 113 114 Threats Dead blue whale on flensing platform Blue whales were initially difficult to hunt because of their size and speed 22 This began to change in the mid 19th century with the development of harpoons that can be shot as projectiles 115 Blue whale whaling peaked between 1930 and 1931 with 30 000 animals taken Harvesting of the species was particularly high in the Antarctic with 350 000 360 000 whales taken in the first half of the 20th century In addition 11 000 North Atlantic whales mostly around Iceland and 9 500 North Pacific whales were killed during the same period 72 The International Whaling Commission banned all hunting of blue whales in 1966 and gave them worldwide protection 116 However the Soviet Union continued to illegally hunt blue whales and other species through to the 1970s 117 Researchers examine a dead blue whale killed by collision with a ship Ship strikes are a significant mortality factor for blue whales especially off the U S West Coast 118 A total of 17 blue whales were killed or suspected to have been killed by ships between 1998 and 2019 off the US West Coast 22 Five deaths in 2007 off California were considered an unusual mortality event as defined under the Marine Mammal Protection Act 118 119 Lethal ship strikes are also a problem in Sri Lankan waters where their habitat intersects with one of the world s most active shipping routes 120 Here strikes caused the deaths of eleven blue whales in 2010 and 2012 121 and at least two in 2014 122 Ship strike mortality claimed the lives of two blue whales off southern Chile in the 2010s 123 124 Possible measures for reducing future ship strikes include better predictive models of whale distribution changes in shipping lanes vessel speed reductions and seasonal and dynamic management of shipping lanes 125 126 Few cases of blue whale entanglement in commercial fishing gear have been documented The first report in the U S occurred off California in 2015 reportedly some type of deep water trap pot fishery 127 Three more entanglement cases were reported in 2016 128 In Sri Lanka a blue whale was documented with a net wrapped through its mouth along the sides of its body and wound around its tail 129 Increasing man made underwater noise impacts blue whales 130 131 They may be exposed to noise from commercial shipping 132 133 and seismic surveys as a part of oil and gas exploration 134 135 Blue whales in the Southern California Bight decreased calling in the presence of mid frequency active MFA sonar 136 Exposure to simulated MFA sonar was found to interrupt blue whale deep dive feeding but no changes in behavior were observed in individuals feeding at shallower depths The responses also depended on the animal s behavioral state its horizontal distance from the sound source and the availability of prey 137 The potential impacts of pollutants on blue whales is unknown However because blue whales feed low on the food chain there is a lesser chance for bioaccumulation of organic chemical contaminants 138 Analysis of the earwax of a male blue whale killed by a collision with a ship off the coast of California showed contaminants like pesticides flame retardants and mercury Reconstructed persistent organic pollutant POP profiles suggested that a substantial maternal transfer occurred during gestation and or lactation 139 Male blue whales in the Gulf of St Lawrence Canada were found to have higher concentrations of PCBs dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane DDT metabolites and several other organochlorine compounds relative to females reflecting maternal transfer of these persistent contaminants from females into young 140 See also Cetaceans portal Mammals portal Marine life portalList of cetaceans List of largest mammals List of whale vocalizationsReferences a b c Reilly S B Bannister J L Best P B Brown M Brownell R L Jr Butterworth D S Clapham P J Cooke J Donovan G P Urban J amp Zerbini A N 2018 Balaenoptera musculus The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018 e T2477A9447146 doi 10 2305 IUCN UK 2008 RLTS T2477A9447146 en Appendices CITES cites 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3290562 PMID 22393434 Southall B L DeRuiter S L Friedlaender A Stimpert A K Goldbogen J A Hazen E Casey C Fregosi S Cade D E Allen A N Harris C M Schorr G Moretti D 2019 Behavioral responses of individual blue whales Balaenoptera musculus to mid frequency military sonar The Journal of Experimental Biology 222 jeb190637 jeb190637 doi 10 1242 jeb 190637 PMID 30833464 O Shea T J Brownell R L 1994 Organochlorine and metal contaminants in baleen whales a review and evaluation of conservation implications Science of the Total Environment 154 2 3 179 200 Bibcode 1994ScTEn 154 179O doi 10 1016 0048 9697 94 90087 6 PMID 7973606 Trumble S J Robinson E M Berman Kowalewski M Potter C W Usenko S 2013 Blue whale earplug reveals lifetime contaminant exposure and hormone profiles Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110 42 16922 16926 Bibcode 2013PNAS 11016922T doi 10 1073 pnas 1311418110 PMC 3801066 PMID 24043814 Metcalfe C D Koenig B G Metcalfe T L Paterson G Sears R 2004 Intra and inter species differences in persistent organic contaminants in the blubber of blue whales and humpback whales from the Gulf of St Lawrence Canada Marine Environmental Research 57 4 245 260 doi 10 1016 j marenvres 2003 08 003 PMID 14749058 Further readingCalambokidis J amp Steiger G 1998 Blue Whales Voyageur Press ISBN 978 0 89658 338 2 Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus MarineBio org Retrieved 21 April 2006 NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources Blue whale biology amp statusExternal linksListen to this article 20 minutes source source This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 13 April 2006 2006 04 13 and does not reflect subsequent edits Audio help More spoken articles Blue whale vocalizations Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bioacoustics Research Program archived 26 February 2015 Blue whale video clips and news from the BBC BBC Wildlife Finder Voices in the Sea Sounds of the Blue Whale NOAA Stock Assessments Life of a Hunter Blue Whale Archived 31 December 2019 at the 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