2024 07 18 Common minke whale Svalbard 08🐾

Photo: Carina Gsottbauer · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesCetaceaBalaenopteridae
Marine mammals

🐾Minke whale

Balaenoptera acutorostrata Lacépède, 1804

The common minke whale or northern minke whale is a species of minke whale within the suborder of baleen whales.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
22
Photos
1
Measurements
10
vs you
≈ 120× your weight
Also called
Common minke whale, Common Minke Whale, Dwarf Minke Whale, Lesser Rorqual, Little Piked Whale, northern minke whale
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2018.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
7,500 kg
Body length
7.86 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
50 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Minke whale

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

Body mass
7,500 kgrecord 14,000 kg · SeaLifeBase
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

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

Figures vary

  • 7,500 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
7.86 m
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

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

By sex

  • Female11 mSeaLifeBasev25.04

Figures vary

  • 11 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Maximum lifespan
50 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

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

Figures vary

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

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

Age at maturity
7.3 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

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

Gestation
307 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

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

Figures vary

  • 312 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
7,500 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 Minke whale yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

More

More about the Minke whale

Closest relative on this site
🐋 Gray whale — last shared an ancestor ≈ 5.1 million years ago.
What it eats
insects and other invertebrates70%
fish30%
In other languages
vågehval (nb), Minkwal (de), 小须鲸 (zh), Balaenoptera acutorostrata (es), Balaenoptera acutorostrata (fr), Dwergvinvis (nl) … and 23 more languages

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

See all 22 videos →
Tools

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