What type of whales are there

Like its close relatives, this species features an overly arched jawline, callosities on its head, and lack a dorsal fin at its back. Like its Atlantic cousin, the North Pacific right whale is an endangered whale species. A large chunk of their remaining population resides along the shores of Kuril Islands and in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Back in , a team of researchers led by ecologist Brendan Kelly reported multiple cases of hybridization between closely related marine mammal species in the Arctic. One of them was a crossbred between the North Pacific right whale and bowhead whale reported in the Bering Sea. Unlike the other two right whale species, the Southern right whales are not threatened or endangered.

According to the most recent estimates, the Southern right whale population is close to 10, individuals and is fairly widespread in the lower part of the Southern Hemisphere. A unique behavioral trait of the Southern right whales is tail sailing lifting the tail out of the water surface. Also, they are often attracted to passing ships and vessels and trail them over long distances.

Scientific Name : Balaenoptera musculus Length: 29 meters Weight: tonnes. The Blue whale is one of the eight [and most prominent] species in the genus Balaenoptera. About three subspecies of blue whale have been identified so far: B. They are the largest known animal species on Earth. At the surface, however, it is between 25 to 37 beats per minute.

Like other filter-feeders, blue whales exclusively feed on Krill. Scientific Name : Balaenoptera physalus Length: Fin whale or finback whale is the second-largest animal species on the planet after the mighty Blue whale.

As a cosmopolitan species, the fin whale is found in every climatic region except polar extremes. While fin whales are usually recognized by curved dorsal fins and distinctive asymmetrical markings on the body, they are often misidentified as blue whales or sei whales. Scientific Name : Balaenoptera borealis Length: The Sei whale is a large whale species in the genus Balaenoptera same as the fin whale.

Sei whales may often present with flesh wounds white scars all over their body. Sei whale populations have been subjected to multiple mass death events in the past. One such event occurred in June , when about dead whales were discovered in a remote area of Patagonia, Chile. Antarctic minke whales Image Courtesy: Jerzy Strzelecki.

Scientific Name : Balaenoptera bonaerensis Length: 8. The Antarctic or southern minke whale is one of the smallest known baleen species, with the longest ever specimen recorded at Due to their relatively small stature meat quantity and low oil yield, the Antarctic minke population was mostly neglected by whalers until most recently in the 21st century.

It is now identified as a near-threatened species. Although Antarctic minke whales are exclusively found in the southern hemisphere, multiple sightings have been reported north of the Equator. Scientific Name : Megaptera novaeangliae Length: meters Weight: tonnes. The humpback whales are easily identified by their long pectoral fin and bulky body. As the only member of the genus Megaptera, humpback whales have other bodily attributes distinctive to them.

Humpbacks are very popular among whale watchers and enthusiasts due to their frisky surfacing behavior spy-hopping, tail-slapping, etc. Audio of a singing humpback whale. It is a cosmopolitan species inhabits every ocean and major seas , and its estimated worldwide populations are close to 80, A gray whale showing its baleen.

Scientific Name : Eschrichtius robustus Length: meters Weight: tonnes. The grey or grey back whale is the only extant species of genus Eschrichtius. As the name suggests, grey whales are dark grey in color and have numerous white spots all over their body. The grey whales feature a slightly lifted midline known as the dorsal ridge instead of the dorsal fin. Their population is located in two pockets of the world; eastern North Pacific and western North Pacific.

In , a grey whale traveled across the Pacific ocean, covering a record-setting distance of more than 22, km. Scientific Name : Cephalorhynchus hectori Length: 1. Not only are they the smallest, but also one of the rarest dolphins on Earth.

They are overall pale grey in appearance. As the name suggests, pygmy killer whales are a much smaller version of the killer whales, also known as Orcas.

They are known to feed on small fish and even common dolphins. Apart from physical characteristics and a few behavioral traits, not much is known about this species. Their range extends from about 35 degrees north to 35 degrees south. As the name suggests, this is a relatively small whale by baleen whale standards up to 6.

There is very little known about the pygmy right whale as they are rarely seen at sea. Pygmy right whales are found only in the southern hemisphere and their exact range is unknown. Rorquals are sleek, slender, streamlined whales, with pointed heads and flippers. Throat grooves are long folds in the skin which expand when they feed.

As the whale gulps huge quantities of seawater, the throat bulges like a giant balloon. Rorquals vary in size from the smallest minke whale 8. Whales face numerous threats from whaling, collisions with shipping, entanglement in nets and pollution. With your help WDC is working to make the oceans a safer place for them to live. Toothed whales are accomplished predators. This is a very important skill as it allows them to hunt and navigate underwater where it is often too dark to see properly.

Toothed whales are very social and are always with others; they commonly live in groups known as pods. They are amongst the most intelligent creatures on Earth; they have large brains, show complex behaviour including the ability to teach others and learn from one another.

There are 76 toothed whale species altogether and they are grouped into ten families: the sperm whale; the dwarf and pygmy sperm whale; the beluga and narwhal ; the beaked whales; the oceanic dolphins; the four river dolphins each one is placed in a family of their own ; and the porpoise family. Here we meet four families of large toothed whales. Some species of beaked whale have never been sighted alive. We only know of their existence from stranded whales. The sperm whale is the only member of the sperm whale family.

Most of the space inside their head is dedicated to the oil-filled spermaceti organ which serves to enhance their echolocation skills. Their skin is wrinkled and they have a narrow lower jaw, lined with teeth. They are found in deep water of all oceans and can dive to incredible depths of over m; they hunt giant squid. The pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale are much smaller than the sperm whale and belong to a separate family; they are more dolphin-sized.

Like the sperm whale, these two have a narrow lower jaw and spermaceti organ. They live in deep, warm water. The beaked whale family is the biggest of the large toothed whale families with 22 members - this is likely to increase as scientists learn more about these squid-eating, deep water, mysterious whales. For now, they are the least well-known of all whales; some species have never been seen alive and are known only from dead ones that wash ashore. For at least some of these whales living only in one part of the ocean, the lack of sightings might simply be because they are extremely rare.

Both lack dorsal fins, have bulbous heads and flexible necks. They are grey at birth and whiten as they grow older; adult belugas are a brilliant white and adult narwhals vary from almost white to mottled grey.

Narwhals are famous for their unicorn-like tusk which is actually a very long tooth. A species of baleen whale that migrates from the Antarctic to the tropics to mate and give birth in winter. Humpback Whales tend to feed within 50m of the water's surface, taking krill and shoaling fish. The tendency for Humpbacks to come very close to shore means they can become tangled in craypot lines.

The humpback has the most diverse techniques of feeding methods of all baleen whales. Its most inventive technique is known as bubble net feeding: a group of whales blows bubbles while swimming in circles to create a ring of bubbles. The ring encircles the fish, which are confined in an ever-tighter area as the whales swim in smaller and smaller circles. The whales then suddenly swim upward through the bubble net, mouths agape, swallowing thousands of fish in one gulp.

This technique can involve a ring of bubbles up to 30m in diameter and the cooperation of a dozen animals. Some of the whales take the task of blowing the bubbles through their blowholes, some dive deeper to drive fish toward the surface, and others herd fish into the net by vocalizing. Humpbacks have been observed bubble net feeding alone as well.

Humpbacks have a distinctive m ft heart shaped to bushy blow. Blue Whales are the largest, heaviest and loudest animal that has ever lived on Earth. They can be as long as a Boeing and six times as heavy. Their heart is the size of a small car and their tongue as big as an African Bull elephant.

The whistle emitted by a Blue Whale is so loud it can be heard underwater across entire oceans. The Blue Whale blow is over 9 metres high and so large it forms a cloud that floats above the sea long after the whale has dived. A single Blue Whale needs to eat as much as 4. The name 'Blue Whale' comes from their startling electric blue skin pigmentation that gives off a spectacular neon glow under water. Once numbering around ,, Blue Whales have been hunted to near extinction.

In the whaling season alone 30, Blue Whales were killed, mostly by British and Norwegian whalers. Less than 2, remain in the Southern Hemisphere today. They have been protected since Blue Whales are a member of the Fin and Sei whale family. The endangered Sei Whale is still killed by Japanese whalers.

Right whales have large wide bodies, broad flippers and no dorsal fin on their back. They are dark grey to black in colour. The callosities are usually a whitish colour. Different types of whale lice live on the callosities.