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SpeciesCetaceaBalaenopteridae
Marine mammals

🐋Sei whale

Balaenoptera borealis Lesson, 1828

Sejhvalen (Balaenoptera borealis) er en bardehval af finhval-familien. Den voksne sejhval bliver 12-16 m lang og vejer 20-30 t, og den er dermed den fjerdestørste af finhvalerne (efter blåhval, finhval og pukkelhval). Sejhvalen findes i alle verdenshave og foretrækker dybt vand langt fra kysterne. Sejhvalen vandrer i lighed med de øvrige bardehvaler mellem polare områder om sommeren til tempererede og subtropiske farvande om vinteren. Sejhvalen har fået sit navn efter torskefisken sej, der forekommer i store mængder langs Norges kyst på samme tid som sejhvalerne ses. Sejhvalen spiser dog ikke sej, men lever af vandlopper (copepoder), lyskrebs og andet dyreplankton som den filtrerer ud af vandet med sine barder. Den samlede bestand af sejhval blev i 2008 skønnet til ca. 80.000 dyr, omkring en tredjedel af bestandstørrelsen før den kommercielle fangst på sejhval begyndte. Fangst af sejhval er især foregået i første halvdel af 1900-tallet, med en skønnet samlet fangst på over 250.000 sejhvaler. Sejhvaler er i dag beskyttet mod jagt gennem hvalfangstkommissionens moratorium på hvalfangst, men en begrænset fangst forgår stadig i Island og Japan.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements
11
vs you
≈ 320× your weight
Also called
Balaenoptera borealis, Coalfish Whale, Pollack Whale, Rudophi’s Rorqual
Conservation status
ENEndangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2018.

Population trendIncreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
20,000 kg
Body length
19 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
74 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Sei whale

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
20,000 kgrecord 30,000 kg · SeaLifeBase
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 20,000 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
19 m
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 18 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Brain mass
4,900 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
74 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 74 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
23 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
9.0 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
346 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 345 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
1
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Carnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Diurnal
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
20,000 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Sei whale yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderCetacea
  5. ›familyBalaenopteridae
  6. ›genusBalaenoptera
  7. ›speciesBalaenoptera borealis
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
  3. suborderWhippomorpha
  4. infraorderWhales & dolphins · Cetacea
All 13 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
  12. suborderWhippomorpha
  13. infraorderWhales & dolphins · Cetacea
More

More about the Sei whale

Closest relative on this site
🐋 Blue whale — last shared an ancestor ≈ 2.0 million years ago.
What it eats
insects and other invertebrates60%
fish40%
In other languages
Seiwal (de), Balaenoptera borealis (es), Rorqual boréal (fr), seihval (nb), Noordse vinvis (nl), 塞鲸 (zh) … and 25 more languages
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