Northern fin whale


The northern fin whale is a subspecies of fin whale that lives in the North Atlantic Ocean and North Pacific Ocean. 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, exists in the southern hemisphere.

Size

Northern fin whales are smaller than their southern hemisphere counterparts, with adult males averaging and adult females. 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. At sexual maturity, males average in the North Atlantic and in the North Pacific, while females average in the North Atlantic and in the North Pacific. At birth, calves are in the North Pacific.

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.