Habit: Coastal

Fin whales tend to be more social than other rorquals, gathering in pods of 2-7 whales or more. Sexual maturity occurs at ages of 6-10 years in males and 7-12 years in females, depending on the population and time period. Reproductive activity occurs in winter, when whales are in warmer southern waters. Females mate every two or three years, and after an eleven month gestation, nurse their calves for six to eight months. Fin whales can live to be up to 90 years of age.

Broad diet dominated by: Invertebrates>fish>squid

The fin whale will eat both fish and krill; capelin, sandlance, and herring being of particular importance. Fin whales in the Southern Oceans feed almost exclusively on krill.

Feeding mode: Lunging

The fin whale feeds on the surface and at depth.

Prey species include:

Invertebrates: Euphausia superba, Thysanoessa macrura, Euphausia vallentini, Euphaushia crystallorophias, Thysanoessa raschii, Thysanoessa inermis, Thysanoessa longipes, Calanus cristatus, Calanus plumchrus, Euphausia pacifica, Thysanoessa spinifera, Calanus finmarchius, Meganyctiphanes norvegica

Cephalopods: Nototodarus sloani

Fish: Sardinella melanosticta, Theragra chalcogramma, Mallotus villosus, Ammodytes americanus, Ammodytes dubius, Engraulis mordax, Clupea harengus

Main threats include:

Entanglement in debris/fishing gear

Noise pollution

Ship strikes

Conservation status:

The fin whale is classified as endangered by the IUCN. In the U.S., the fin whale is on the endangered species list and is additionally protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Global population might have been as high as 500,000 before commercial whaling of the species. The fin whale population today is estimated to be 14,620 to 18,630 in the North Pacific; 3,590 to 6,300 in the western North Atlantic; 10,500 in the eastern North Atlantic; and 85,200 in the Southern Oceans. The introduction of the explosive harpoon and steam-powered catcher boat in 1864 meant doom for great whales, which had previously been largely unobtainable for whalers. After whalers devastated the blue whale population, the fin whale was targeted next, hunted relentlessly in all major oceans between the 1930s and 1960s. Their numbers were severely depleted, especially in the Southern Oceans. Presently, the fin whale is hunted only off the coast of Greenland, at a subsistence level. In the 1980’s the capelin stock collapsed off the coast of Canada, which may have affected fin whale numbers as well.

For current information on the conservation status of this species, please consult the following websites:

• IUCN Species Redlist

• CITES webpage

• U.S. FWS Threatened and Endangered Species System (TESS)

• International Whaling Commission

• NMFS Stock Assessment Reports

• Convention on Migratory Species (Appendix I)

Genetic information: Genbank

Sounds: National Marine Mammal Laboratory

Museum Collections: Smithsonian Institution

Aguilar, A. 2002. Fin whale Balaenoptera physalus. Pp. 435-438 in W.F. Perrin, B. Wursig and J.G.M. Thewissen, eds. Encyclopedia of marine mammals. Academic Press.

Barlow, J. 1994. Recent information on the status of large whales in California waters. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS SWFSC 203:27 pp.

Boyd, I.L., C. Lockyer, and H.D. Marsh. 1999. Reproduction in Marine Mammals. Pages 218- 287 in Reynolds III, J.E. and S.A. Rommel, eds. Biology of Marine Mammals. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

Gambell, R. 1985. Fin whale Balaenoptera physalus (Linneaus, 1758). 171-192 in S.H. Ridgway and R. Harrison, eds. Handbook of marine mammals, Vol. 3: The sirenians and baleen whales. Academic Press.

Gaskin, D. E. 1982. The ecology of whales and dolphins. Heinemann, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Leatherwood, S. and R.R. Reeves. 1983. The Sierra Club Handbook of Whales and Dolphins. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, CA.

Mizroch, S.A., D.W. Rice, and J.M. Breiwick. 1984. The fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus. Marine Fisheries Review 46:20-24.

Perry, S.L., D.P. DeMaster, G.K. Silber. 1999. The Fin Whale. Marine Fisheries Review. 61(1).