Balaenoptera musculus Linnaeus 1758

• Main Authors: Russell A. Mittermeier, Don E. Wilson
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Lynx Edicions 2014
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Chordata; Mammalia; Cetacea; Balaenopteridae; Balaenoptera; Balaenoptera musculus; Antarc*; Antarctic; Blauwal; Blue whale; rorcual azul; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6596031; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/84551777FF8FFFA0FFD50E19F72AF76F

5. Blue Whale Balaenoptera musculus French: Rorqual bleu / German: Blauwal / Spanish: Rorcual azul Other common names: Blue Rorqual, Sibbald’s Rorqual, Sulphurbottom Whale; Northern Blue Whale (musculus), Pygmy Blue Whale (brevicauda); Antarctic Blue Whale, Southern Blue Whale (intermedia); Northern Indian Ocean Blue Whale (Northern Indian Ocean population) Taxonomy. Balaena musculus Linnaeus, 1758, “Habitat in mari Scotico” (Scotland, United Kingdom). The type specimen was stranded in the Firth of Forth, a fjord on the eastern coast of Scotland in the North Sea. A possible fourth subspecies, the “Northern Indian Ocean Blue Whale” (indica) named by Blyth in 1859, is recognized by some workers. Genetic support for recognition of distinct subspecies of Blue Whales currently is relatively weak. Three subspecies recognized. Subspecies and Distribution. B.m.musculusLinnaeus,1758—NAtlanticandNPacific. B.m.brevicaudaIchihara,1966—IndianOceanandSWSouthPacificaroundAustralia. B. m. intermedia Burmeister, 1871 — Southern Ocean. Descriptive notes. Total length 3170-3260 cm; weight 113,000-150,000 kg. Adult female Blue Whales are larger than males and represent the largest animals, past and present, to ever live on Earth. Total body length and weight estimates are up to 3260 cm and 145,000 kg for the “Antarctic Blue Whale” (B. m. intermedia), 2800 cm and 113,000 kg for the “Northern Blue Whale” (B. m. musculus), and 2300 cm and 69,000 kg for the “Pygmy Blue Whale” (B. m. brevicauda). Although older scientific literature reports total body lengths of up to 3300 cm for Antarctic Blue Whales, these measurements are questionable because they were taken by nonstandard methods at whaling stations. The same can be said for body weights of 190,000 kg in some reports. Computing accurate weights of animals as large as Blue Whales is a challenge, and because an entire individual cannot be weighed at the same time, the most accurate estimates of weights have been made at whaling stations or onboard factory whaling ships where the ...