Blue Whale
Family: Balaenopteridae
Genus: Balaenoptera
Species: Musculus Musculus
Also known as Great Whale.
Distribution:
The Blue Whale can be found anywhere from polar to tropical oceans.
Size:
Anywhere up to 90ft & 150 tons in weight.
Colouring:
Mottled blue-grey, with a pale underside.
Diet:
Krill.
Gestation & Longevity:
12 months & up to 65 years, respectively.
A truly remarkable creature, the largest known living animal on the planet.
Like all rorquals, the Blue Whale is a filter feeder. This means that it takes in great gulps of water that it then filters through its baleen - great plates fringed with bristles that take the place of teeth in these creatures - straining out the tiny crustaceans that are the great whale's food.
These crustaceans - krill - are then dislodged from the baleen plates by the tongue.
The Blue Whale has around 300-400 of these plates, and can easily consume several tons of krill a day.
Apologies for leaving this mid-node - it will be finished within 24 hours & there is a good reason.
See also...
Cetacean
Rorqual
Whale