Balaenoptera borealis Lesson 1828
3. Sei Whale Balaenoptera borealis French: Rorqual boréal / German: Seiwal / Spanish: Rorcual boreal Other common names: Coalfish Whale, Northern Rorqual, Pollack Whale, Rudophi’s Rorqual; Northern Sei Whale (borealis); Southern Sei Whale (schlegelii) Taxonomy. Balaenoptera borealis Lesson, 1828, Ge...
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| Format: | Other/Unknown Material |
| Language: | unknown |
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Lynx Edicions
2014
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| Online Access: | https://zenodo.org/record/6596023 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6596023 |
| Summary: | 3. Sei Whale Balaenoptera borealis French: Rorqual boréal / German: Seiwal / Spanish: Rorcual boreal Other common names: Coalfish Whale, Northern Rorqual, Pollack Whale, Rudophi’s Rorqual; Northern Sei Whale (borealis); Southern Sei Whale (schlegelii) Taxonomy. Balaenoptera borealis Lesson, 1828, Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, Lubeck Bay, near Gromitz. The type specimen stranded in 1819 on the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, in the Baltic Sea; this skeleton was in the Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin, but Allied bombing during World War II destroyed it. Genetic and morphological support for recognition of a southern subspecies of B. borealis is relatively weak. Nevertheless, whaling records suggest a distinct size difference in the Southern Hemisphere and the Northern Hemisphere, with individuals from the Antarctic region typically larger than those from the North Atlantic Ocean. Two subspecies recognized. Subspecies and Distribution. B.b.borealisLesson,1828—oceansoftheNorthernHemisphere. B. b. schlegelii Flower, 1865 — oceans of the Southern Hemisphere. Descriptive notes. Total length 1700-2000 cm; weight 22,000-38,000 kg. Total body length and weight estimates are 2000 cm and 38,000 kg in Antarctic waters, 1800 cm and 28,000 kg in the North Pacific Ocean, and 1700 cm and 22,000 kg in the North Atlantic Ocean. Adult female Sei Whales are slightly larger than males. Only an adult Blue Whale (B. musculus) and adult Fin Whale (B. physalus) are larger than an adult Sei Whale. The Sei Whale somewhat resembles a small-scale Fin Whale, although there are important differences. An adult Sei Whale generally is dark steel-gray on back, with bluish shade extending down flanks of body. In older individuals, there are lighter colored, gray-to-white, oval scars on body representing healed pits or bites caused by ectoparasitic copepods (Pennella spp.), lampreys (Petromyzon sp.), or cookiecutter sharks (Isistius brasiliensis). Ventral surface is slightly lighter than back with an irregular, grayish-white patch of variable size near ... |
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