The northern fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus physalus'') is a
subspecies of
fin whale
The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of ce ...
that lives in the North
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
and North
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
.
It has been proposed that the northern Pacific population represents a separate subspecies, ''
B. p. velifera''.
At least one other subspecies of fin whale, the
southern fin whale (''B. p. quoyi''), exists in the
southern hemisphere.
[
]
Size
Northern fin whales are smaller than their southern hemisphere counterparts, with adult males averaging and adult females .[Evans, Peter G. H. (1987). ''The Natural History of Whales and Dolphins''. Facts on File.] Maximum reported figures are for males and for females in the North Pacific, while the longest reliably measured were and — all were caught off California, the former in the 1920s and the latter in the 1960s.
Reproduction
Because of the opposing seasons in each hemisphere, ''B. p. physalus'' breeds at a different time of the year than ''B. p. quoyi''. Peak conception for ''B. p. physalus'' is December–January, while peak birthing is in November–December — in both the North Atlantic and North Pacific.
See also
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7059206
Baleen whales
Mammals described in 1758
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus