BLUE WHALE

Submitted by ub on

We now move from the orange whale to a blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) which is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 ft) and weighing up to 199 tonnes (196 long tons; 219 short tons), it is the largest animal known ever to have existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can be of various shades of greyish-blue dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath.

Four subspecies are recognized: B. m. musculus in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia in the Southern Ocean, B. m. Brevicauda the pygmy blue whale in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, B. m. indicia in the Northern Indian Ocean. 

There is also a population in the waters off South America that may constitute a fifth subspecies. The most Massive Animal of All Time May Have Been Found in the Peruvian Desert. https://www.sciencealert.com/most-massive-animal-of-all-time-may-have-b…

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