Marine Mammals
Fin Whale
Balaenoptera physalus
Also known as
Finback, Finner, Common Rorqual, Herring Whale
Distribution
Global, except Arctic Ocean
Écosystèmes/habitats
Coastal and offshore waters
Feeding Habits
Filter feeder
Conservation Status
Threatened
Taxonomie
Suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales); Family Balaenopteridae (rorqual whales)
Partager
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Google+Fin whales are the second largest animals on Earth, only the blue whale is larger. Despite their massive size, fin whales have a slender and streamlined body that helps them to reach speeds up to 40 km/hr, making them one of the fastest swimmers of all the whales and earning their nickname of the “greyhounds of the sea”. Like all baleen whales, their diet consists of some of the tiniest animals in the sea, including krill, copepods, and small schooling fish. They expand the 60 grooves along their throats to help them engulf massive amounts of water. Unable to swallow saltwater, they filter out food using their baleen plates like a strainer. Interestingly, baleen is made of keratin, like our hair and fingernails.
- American Lobster
- American Plaice
- Arctic Char
- Atlantic Cod
- Atlantic Herring
- Atlantic Mackerel
- Atlantic Puffin
- Atlantic Walrus
- Atlantic Wolffish
- Beluga Whale
- Blue Shark
- Bowhead Whale
- Bubblegum Coral
- Canary Rockfish
- Capelin
- Chinook Salmon
- Dungeness Crab
- Eulachon
- Fin Whale
- Fjords
- Giant Pacific Octopus
- Great White Shark
- Green Sea Turtle
- Greenland Halibut/Turbot
- Greenland Shark
- Humboldt Squid
- Humpback Whale
- Kelp Forests
- Leatherback Sea Turtle
- Lingcod
- Lion's Mane Jellyfish
- Loggerhead Sea Turtle
- Lophelia Coral
- Narwhal
- North Atlantic Right Whale
- Northern Gannet
- Northern Shrimp
- Orca
- Pacific Herring
- Pilot Whale
- Polar Bear
- Pom-Pom Anemones
- Redfish (Acadian & Deepwater)
- Sea Otter
- Sea Pens
- Sea Strawberry
- Seamounts
- Snow crab
- Sockeye Salmon
- Spiny Dogfish
- Thick-billed Murres
- Thorny Skate
- Tufted Puffin
- Yelloweye Rockfish