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2023 08 04 Blue whale Isfjord Svalbard 04🐋

Photo: Carina Gsottbauer · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesCetaceaBalaenopteridae
Marine mammals

🐋Blue whale

Balaenoptera musculus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Der Blauwal (Balaenoptera musculus) ist ein Bartenwal in der Familie der Furchenwale (Balaenopteridae). Mit einer Körperlänge von bis zu 33 Metern und einer Körpermasse von bis zu 200 Tonnen ist der Blauwal eines der größten und schwersten bekannten Tiere der Erdgeschichte. Als Kosmopolit ist diese Art in allen Ozeanen der Erde verbreitet.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
763
Photos
7
Measurements
11
vs you
≈ 2,400× your weight
Also called
Balaenoptera musculus, Pygmy Blue Whale, Sibbold’s Rorqual, Sulphur-bottom Whale
Conservation status
ENEndangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2018.

Population trendIncreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
149,000 kg
Body length
30 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
110 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Blue whale

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

Body mass
149,000 kgrecord 160,000 kg · SeaLifeBase
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

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

Figures vary

  • 136,000 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
30 m
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

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

By sex

  • Female27 mWikidataQ42196

Figures vary

  • 33 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Brain mass
6,729 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

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

Maximum lifespan
110 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

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

Figures vary

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

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

Age at maturity
5.4 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

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

Gestation
327 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

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

Figures vary

  • 350 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
149,000 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 Blue whale yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

More

More about the Blue whale

Closest relative on this site
🐋 Sei whale — last shared an ancestor ≈ 2.0 million years ago.
What it eats
insects and other invertebrates100%
In other languages
blåhval (nb), Blauwal (de), 藍鯨 (zh), Balaenoptera musculus (es), baleine bleue (fr), Balaenoptera musculus (it) … and 28 more languages

Tiere vor der Kamera

Echtes Filmmaterial von den Tieren dieser Website – beim Jagen, beim Kämpfen und beim ganz normalen Alltag.

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