blue whale

[ bloo hweyl, weyl ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a migratory baleen whale, Balaenoptera musculus, mostly of oceans and seas in the Southern Hemisphere, the largest mammal ever known, growing to a length of 100 feet (30.5 meters) and having a furrowed, slate-blue skin mottled with lighter spots, in some seas acquiring a yellowish coating of diatoms on the underside: now classified as endangered, it was once hunted nearly to extinction, but international conservation efforts begun in the 1960s have enabled the blue whale population to rebound significantly.

blue whale

the largest mammal: a widely distributed bluish-grey whalebone whale, Sibbaldus (or Balaenoptera ) musculus , closely related and similar to the rorquals: family Balaenopteridae Also calledsulphur-bottom

First recorded in 1850–55

In general, the head is intermediate in shape between that of the blue whale and that of the fin whale.

The top of the head is flat, though slightly less than that of the blue whale.

The rostrum is narrower and more V-shaped than that of the blue whale and has the same sort of single distinctive head ridge.

The head is quite broad and rounded, somewhat like that of the blue whale.

The only other rorqual to do so—the blue whale—raises the flukes slightly or not at all.

April 23, 2024inveterate

[in-vet-er-it ]

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