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WoRMS taxon details

Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758) 
AphiaID: 137091

Classification: Biota > Animalia (Kingdom) > Chordata (Phylum) > Vertebrata (Subphylum) > Gnathostomata (Superclass) > Tetrapoda (Superclass) > Mammalia (Class) > Theria (Subclass) > Cetartiodactyla (Order) > Cetancodonta (Suborder) > Cetacea (Infraorder) > Mysticeti (Superfamily) > Balaenopteridae (Family) > Balaenoptera (Genus)
Status accepted
Record
status		 Checked by Taxonomic Editor
Rank Species
Parent Balaenoptera Lacépède, 1804
Synonymised
taxa		  Balaena antipodarum Tomilin, 1957 (synonym)
 Balaena antiquorum Fischer, 1829 (synonym)
 Balaena boops Linnaeus, 1758 (synonym)
 Balaena mysticetus major Kerr, 1792 (synonym)
 Balaena physalis Kerr, 1792 (synonym)
 Balaena physalus Linnaeus, 1758 (basionym)
 Balaena quoyi Fischer, 1829 (synonym)
 Balaena rostrata australis Desmoulins, 1822 (synonym)
 Balaena sulcata Neill, 1811 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera antarctica Gray, 1846 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera aragous Farines & Carcasonne, 1829 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera australis Gray, 1846 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera blythii Anderson, 1879 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera brasiliensis Gray, 1846 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera gibbar Lacépède, 1804 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera mediterraneensis Lesson, 1828 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera mediterranensis Cabrera, 1961 (misspelling)
 Balaenoptera musculus Van Beneden & Gervais, 1880 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera patachonica Lahille, 1905 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera patachonicus Burmeister, 1865 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera patagonica Dabbene, 1902 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera quoyii Lonnberg, 1906 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera rorqual Lacépède, 1804 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera sulcata arctica Schlegel, 1841 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera swinhoii Gray, 1866 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera tenuirostris Sweeting, 1840 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera velifera Cope, 1869 (synonym)
 Balaenoptera velifera copei Elliot, 1901 (synonym)
 Balaenopteris guibusdam Tomilin, 1957 (synonym)
 Benedenia knoxii Gray, 1864 (synonym)
 Dubertus rhodinsulensis Tomilin, 1957 (synonym)
 Physalis vulgaris Fleming, 1828 (synonym)
 Physalus antarcticus Gray, 1850 (synonym)
 Physalus australis Gray, 1850 (synonym)
 Physalus brasiliensis Gray, 1850 (synonym)
 Physalus dugundii Heddle, 1856 (synonym)
 Physalus fasciatus Gray, 1850 (synonym)
 Physalus patachonicus Burmeister, 1866 (synonym)
 Physalus verus Billberg, 1828 (synonym)
 Pterobalaena communis Van Beneden, 1857 (synonym)
 Pterobalaena gigantea michrochira Barkos, 1862 (synonym)
 Rorqualus musculus F. Cuvier, 1836 (synonym)
 Sibbaldius tectirostris Cope, 1869 (synonym)
 Sibbaldius tuberosus Cope, 1869 (synonym)
 Swinhoia chinensis Gray, 1868 (synonym)
Sources  original description: Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae. ii, 824 pp., available online at http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/no_cache/dms/load/toc/?IDDOC=265100
page(s): 75 [details]

basis of record: van der Land, J. (2001). Tetrapoda, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 375-376 (look up in IMIS) [details]

additional source: Carwardine, M., E. Hoyt, R. E. Fordyce and P. Gill. 1998. Whales, dolphins and porpoises. Time-Life Books. Nature Company Guides, USA. 288 p. [details]

additional source: Thomas, M.L.H. (ed.). 1983. Marine and coastal systems of the Quoddy Region, New Brunswick. Canadian Special Publication of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 64. 306 p. [details]

additional source: Muller, Y. (2004). Faune et flore du littoral du Nord, du Pas-de-Calais et de la Belgique: inventaire. [Coastal fauna and flora of the Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Belgium: inventory]. Commission Régionale de Biologie Région Nord Pas-de-Calais: France. 307 pp. (look up in IMIS) [details]

additional source: Mead, J. G. and R. L. Brownell, Jr. (2005). Cetacea. Pages 723--743 in Wilson, D.E. & D.M. Reeder (eds). Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), Johns Hopkins University Press, 2,142 pp., available online at http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/ [details]

additional source: Rice, D. W. 1998. Marine mammals of the world. Systematics and distribution. Society for Marine Mammalogy Special Publication 4. [details]

additional source: Hershkovitz, P. (1966). Catalog of living whales. U.S. National Museum Bulletin 246:1--259. [details]

additional source: Jefferson, T. A., M. A. Webber and R. L. Pitman. (2008). Marine mammals of the world. Academic Press, Amsterdam. [details]

additional source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, available online at http://www.iucnredlist.org [details]

additional source: Perrin, W. F., B. Würsig and J. G. M. Thewissen. (2009). Encyclopedia of marine mammals. Academic Press, Amsterdam. [details]

additional source: King, C. (2009). Terrestrial mammals (Chordata). In: Gordon, D. (Ed.) (2009). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume One: Kingdom Animalia. 584 pp [details]

additional source: Schmidly, D. J. and B. Würsig. 2009. Mammals (Vertebrata: Mammalia) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 1343–1352 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas. [details]

additional source: ITIS database, available online at http://www.itis.gov [details]

Vernacular
Names		 
Language   Name 
Afrikaans vinwalvis  [details]
Aleut mangidadakh  [details]
Aleut mangidakh  [details]
Arabic harcul chaii  [details]
Bulgarian finvаl  [details]
Bulgarian sin kit (from synonym)  [details]
Bulgarian Син кит (from synonym)  [details]
Bulgarian Финвал  [details]
Catalan rorqual comú  [details]
Chukot nilchoken biuu  [details]
Chukot niltkhokkein uiiut  [details]
Croatian veliki kit  [details]
Czech plejtvák myšok  [details]
Danish blåhval (from synonym)  [details]
Danish finhval  [details]
Danish Silde-Roren  [details]
Dutch blauwe vinvis (from synonym)  [details]
Dutch gewone vinvis  [details]
Dutch vinvis  [details]
English big finner  [details]
English blue whale (from synonym)  [details]
English common finback whale  [details]
English common finwhale  [details]
English common rorqual  [details]
English fin whale  [details]
English finback whale  [details]
English finner  [details]
English herring whale  [details]
English razor back  [details]
French baleine américaine  [details]
French baleine bleue (from synonym)  [details]
French rorqual commun  [details]
French vraie baleine  [details]
German Blauwal (from synonym)  [details]
German Finnfisch  [details]
German Finnwal  [details]
German Riesenwal (from synonym)  [details]
German Schanelwal (from synonym)  [details]
German Schnabelwal  [details]
Hebrew livyatan matzui  [details]
Hebrew לווייתן מצוי  [details]
Hebrew לויתן מצוי  [details]
Hebrew לויתן ענק (from synonym)  [details]
Icelandic finnhvaler  [details]
Icelandic furehvaler  [details]
Icelandic hunfubaks  [details]
Icelandic langreydur  [details]
Icelandic sildrek  [details]
Icelandic sildreki  [details]
Indonesian paus sirip  [details]
Italian balenottera azzurra (from synonym)  [details]
Italian balenottera comune  [details]
Italian balenottera fisallo  [details]
Italian rorqual comune  [details]
Italian rorquallo  [details]
Italian rorqualo  [details]
Japanese nagasu kujira  [details]
Kalaallisut keporkarnak  [details]
Kalaallisut tunnolik  [details]
Korean cham-gorae  [details]
Koryak vapakylichan  [details]
Lithuanian finvalas  [details]
Lithuanian mėlynasis banginis (from synonym)  [details]
Malagasy trozona amam-bombo  [details]
Maltese baliena mbacca  [details]
Modern Greek (1453-) pterofálaina  [details]
Modern Greek (1453-) Γαλάζια φάλαινα (from synonym)  [details]
Modern Greek (1453-) Πτεροφάλαινα  [details]
Norwegian blåhval (from synonym)  [details]
Norwegian finefisk  [details]
Norwegian finhval  [details]
Norwegian finnhval  [details]
Norwegian finqval  [details]
Norwegian loddehval  [details]
Norwegian roren  [details]
Norwegian sildehval  [details]
Norwegian sildrör  [details]
Norwegian stor-hval  [details]
Norwegian Bokmål blåhval (from synonym)  [details]
Norwegian Bokmål finnhval  [details]
Norwegian Nynorsk blåkval (from synonym)  [details]
Norwegian Nynorsk finnkval  [details]
Polish finwal  [details]
Polish płetwal błękitny (from synonym)  [details]
Portuguese baleia-comum  [details]
Portuguese baleia-fina  [details]
Russian finval  [details]
Russian nastoiashchiy polosatik  [details]
Russian obyknovennyi polosatik  [details]
Russian seldianoi polosatik  [details]
Russian кит синий (from synonym)  [details]
Russian сельдяной кит  [details]
Russian финвал  [details]
Sami languages reider  [details]
Slovenian brazdasti kit  [details]
Slovenian sinji kit (from synonym)  [details]
Spanish ballena boba  [details]
Spanish ballena de aleta  [details]
Spanish ballena fin  [details]
Spanish ballena fisalus  [details]
Spanish kila  [details]
Spanish rorcual azul (from synonym)  [details]
Spanish rorcual común  [details]
Spanish rorcual de aleta  [details]
Swedish blåval (from synonym)  [details]
Swedish finnfisk  [details]
Swedish rörval  [details]
Swedish sillhval  [details]
Swedish sillval  [details]
Turkish fin balinasi  [details]
Turkish fin balinası  [details]
Turkish gök balina (from synonym)  [details]
Turkish gök balinası (from synonym)  [details]
Turkish uzun balina  [details]
Ukrainian Кит синій (from synonym)  [details]
Ukrainian Синій кит (from synonym)  [details]
Ukrainian Смугастик Брайда (from synonym)  [details]
Ukrainian Фінвал  [details]
Welsh morfil asgellog glas (from synonym)  [details]
Welsh morfil asgellog llwyd  [details]
Yupik languages tykyshkok  [details]
Direct child
taxa
[show all]		 Subspecies Balaenoptera physalus physalus Tomilin, 1946
Subspecies Balaenoptera physalus quoyi Fischer, 1829

Subspecies Balaenoptera physalus quoyii Tomilin, 1946 accepted as Balaenoptera physalus quoyi Fischer, 1829
Environment marine
Distribution Antarctica [details]
Azores Exclusive Economic Zone [details]
Belgian Exclusive Economic Zone [details]
Comores [details]
Den Helder [details]
European waters (ERMS scope) [details]
Greek Exclusive Economic Zone [details]
Gulf of Maine [details]
Gulf of Mexico [details]
Gulf of St. Lawrence [details]
Kenya [details]
Madagascar [details]
Mauritius [details]
Mediterranean Sea [details]
Mozambique [details]
New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone [details]
North Sea [details]
North West Atlantic [details]
Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone [details]
Reunion [details]
Seychelles [details]
Somalia [details]
Spanish Exclusive Economic Zone [details]
St. Lawrence Estuary [details]
Subantarctic Waters [details]
Tanzania [details]
United Kingdom Exclusive Economic Zone [details]
Vlissingen [details]
Wimereux (not certain) [details]
World Oceans [details]
Feedingtype  carnivore [details]
Host of  Balaenophilus unisetus Aurivillius, 1879 (parasitic: ectoparasitic)
Pennella balaenopterae Koren & Danielssen, 1877 (parasitic: ectoparasitic)
Links Marine Life Information Network - UK
To Barcode of Life (4 barcodes)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (194 publications)
To Encyclopedia of Life
To GenBank (276 nucleotides; 160 proteins)
To IUCN Red List
To Marine Species Identification Portal
To PESI
To ITIS
Notes  Diet: schooling fish, euphasiids and other invetebrates, copepods (when young), squid [details]

Dimensions: Length: male 58-82' (17.7-25 m), female 60-88 1/2' (18.3-27 m), at birth 19 1/2' + (5.9 m+) [details]

Distribution: in all oceans [details]

Distribution: Antarctica/Southern Ocean; East Pacific; Eastern Atlantic Ocean; Indo-West Pacific; Western Atlantic Ocean [details]

Habitat: mostly offshore but also near the coast [details]

Holotype: None; based primarily on the "finfish" of Martens (1675) [details]

Importance: In the North-West Atlantic region, it is the dominant large cetacean species in all seasons, with the largest standing stock, the largest food requirements, and therefore the largest impact on the ecosystem of any cetacean species. [details]

IUCN Red List Category: Endangered (EN) [details]

Morphology: Distinguishing characteristics: white lower jaw on right, gray on left. Blow readily visible-10 m(33') tall, straight column. Curved dorsal fin closer to tail. light grey with white belly, occasional blotches of orange/yellow, blaze or chevron extending from eye across back. Fin and blue whales have the deepest, loudest voices in the ocean, letting them communicate over great distances. Second largest living animal after the blue whale. [details]

Predators: Killer whale (Orcinus orca) [details]

Reproduction: Calving: December to April in Northern Hemisphere, austral winter in Southern Hemisphere, in unknown localities; Weaning: 1 year [details]

Type locality: "Oceano Europaeo," specifically the Spitzbergen Sea [details]
Images 
Fin whale
Fin whale
added on 2006-11-24 - author: Nobuo Kokubun
qualitystatus: checked by Perrin, William on 2009-04-17 23:11:29

Van Beneden & Gervais (1880, pl. 03)
[image from synonym]
Van Beneden & Gervais (1880, pl. 03)
added on 2008-06-03 - author: Delahaye in Van Beneden & Gervais (1880)
scan provided by VLIZ - Wetenschatten
qualitystatus: checked by Perrin, William on 2012-09-08 00:43:15

Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
added on 2009-05-02 - author: NOAA NMFS SWFSC PRD
qualitystatus: checked by Perrin, William on 2009-05-02 00:19:22

Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
added on 2009-05-02 - author: NOAA NMFS SWFSC PRD
qualitystatus: checked by Perrin, William on 2009-05-02 00:20:39

Fin whale surfacing
Fin whale surfacing
added on 2011-02-10 - author: Hilary Moors ()
qualitystatus: checked by Perrin, William on 2012-09-08 00:47:10

Balaenoptera physalus
Balaenoptera physalus
added on 2012-02-05 - author: VLIZ Collection
qualitystatus: checked by Perrin, William on 2012-09-08 00:46:07
LSID urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:137091
Taxonomic
Edit history		 
Date   action   by
2004-12-21 15:54:05Z  created  van der Land, Jacob
2008-08-20 11:25:36Z  checked  Perrin, William
  
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  Citation: Perrin, W. (2013). Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758). In: Perrin, W.F. (2013) World Cetacea Database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=137091 on 2013-05-24
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