More Baleen Whales

a whale found in tropical and subtropical seas. It is dark bluish-gray and grows to about 45 feet (14 m) in length. It feeds on such fish as sardines and anchovies.

a slender whale with a small head. It is dark above and white below; the left side of its head is darker than the right. Fin whales grow to about 80 feet (24 m) in length.

There are no Olympics for whales, so no one knows for sure how fast a whale can sprint if it really wants to. Biologists who study whales must estimate their speeds by watching them in the wild.

Fin whales are known for being excellent swimmers. They are sleek and shaped like a torpedo. They have less blubber for their size and more muscle than blue whales. Fin whales are called the “greyhounds of the sea” and are the second largest baleen whale after blue whales. Over short distances, fin whales reach speeds of 20 miles (32 kilometers) per hour.

Sei whales are another fast whale, long and lean like fin whales. Sei whales are known for explosive sprints. By some accounts, sei whales can swim 30 miles (48 kilometers) per hour over short distances, making them faster than dolphins.

Blue whales are also strong swimmers, almost as fast as sei and fin whales.

a thick-bodied whale with unusually long nippers and a large, knobby head. It reaches about 60 feet (18 m) in length and is covered with barnacles. The name comes from its habit of humping its back when about to sound.

Male humpbacks are the opera singers of the ocean. A male humpback may growl, moan, whine, and make violinlike sounds, repeating the sounds in the same order continuously for hours, sometimes days. Portions of a song may be heard from hundreds of miles away by other whales.

Males sing during the breeding season. For this reason, biologists think the songs are meant to woo potential mates. They may also help to keep other males away.

Males from the same region sing a similar tune. So, it would seem a male whale learns his song from the other males in his area. Each male, however, modifies his song slowly over time, making it unique—yet it is still recognizable as a song of his group.

Humpback whales have very long flippers, longer than any other baleen whale. They are so long that they look like small airplane wings. Measured from the body of the whale to the tip of the flipper, a flipper can be 17 feet (5 meters) in length.

Most of the time, humpback whales use their flippers as giant paddles. Flippers help the whale steer and balance while swimming.

Sometimes though, it looks as if flippers could be used as wings. Humpback whales are the most acrobatic of all the baleen whales. They often hurl themselves out of the water head first. For a brief second, you think they really will fly. But, of course, they don’t, and they splash back into the ocean. Humpbacks also like to slap their tails on the surface, making loud sounds and giant splashes.

Humpback whales eat a variety of foods, including many kinds of krill and small fish that live in groups called schools. To help drive large amounts of krill and fish into small, easy-to-eat clusters, humpback whales make nets by blowing bubbles. To make a bubble net, a humpback whale first dives beneath a school of fish or krill. It then blows columns of bubbles as it circles below. Slowly, it spirals upward around the prey, creating a cylinder of bubbles with its prey trapped inside.

When the net is complete, the whale will open its mouth wide and lunge at the center of its bubble net. Often, several humpbacks will work together—one makes the bubble net while the others feed.

a small whale reaching about 30 feet (9 m) in length. It has a pointed snout. It is grayish black above and white below with white bands across the flippers. It is one of the most abundant species and is the one caught most frequently by whale hunters.

Not all baleen whales are huge. But compared with animals on land, even a small baleen whale is big.

The pygmy right whale is the smallest baleen whale. Females reach lengths of about 20 feet (6 meters) and can weigh 7,500 pounds (3,400 kilograms). This is still quite a bit larger than a hippopotamus, for example, which weighs up to 5,800 pounds (2,630 kilograms).

Besides being relatively small, pygmy whales are mysterious. People rarely see them. Dead pygmy whales have washed up on Australian, South African, and South American shores, leading scientists to think pygmy whales probably live south of the equator. But this is only a guess. Scientists know very little about the range of pygmy whales or where they feed and breed.

The next smallest baleen whale is the minke whale. Minke whales grow to be about 33 feet (10 meters) long and may weigh up to 20,000 pounds (9,100 kilograms).

All the other baleen whales are longer than 40 feet (12 meters). Because baleen whales are so big, they are sometimes referred to as “the great whales.”

are found in almost all seas. They grow up to about 60 feet (18 m) long and resemble fin whales and Bryde's whales, to which they are related. They can swim almost as fast as blue whales.

These whales were considered the "right" ones to hunt in early whaling days because they were easily overtaken, they floated after they were killed, and they yielded great quantities of oil and baleen. There are three species: the right whale; the bowhead, or Greenland right whale; and the Pygmy right whale. Right whales are commonly called either northern or southern right whales, referring to the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They range from 20 to 60 feet (6 to 18 m) in length, and are usually black with white underparts.

Bowhead and right whales have the longest baleens. These whales are rounder and fatter than blue whales, and they have huge heads. The baleen of these whales can be 7 to 13 feet (2 to 4 meters) long. Huge strands of baleen let a right whale strain greater volumes of water as it feeds. Instead of gulping water, as do blue whales, bowhead and right whales swim slowly with their mouths open and catch tiny floating organisms called copepods.

Right whales swim so slowly that barnacles and other small organisms are able to live on their skin. The barnacles survive by capturing and eating other tiny organisms floating in the water. Other types of organisms, such as whale lice, feed on the whale’s skin. Luckily for the whales, these whale lice don’t appear to cause much harm. Right whales usually have patches of organisms growing on their face. So do some other baleen whales, such as humpback and gray whales.

Some baleens, for example, blue whales, live in all the oceans. Their summer feeding areas are in or near the waters of the cold polar regions. In winter, blue whales and the other baleen whales that live in the polar regions migrate to breed and give birth in the comforting warmth of the tropics. Sometimes migrating whales travel thousands of miles between their winter and summer habitats.

Some baleen whales, however, do not migrate. Bowhead whales, for example, never leave the Arctic Ocean, while Bryde’s whales spend their entire lives in warm tropical and subtropical waters.

Baleen whales do sleep, but scientists know very little about how they sleep. And, they can’t sleep deeply the way people and other land mammals do. Whales must come to the surface of the water to breathe, so they can’t stay motionless in the water for long periods.

The brain of a baleen whale, like the human brain, has two sides—a right and a left hemisphere.

When a whale sleeps, scientists think only one side of the brain rests at a time. The other side stays awake to direct the whale to the surface for air. By letting one side of the brain rest, whales catch a nap without drowning. Both baleen whales and toothed whales sleep with half a brain awake.

When sleeping, whales sometimes position themselves near the water’s surface so they can pop up easily for air.

Baleen whales are not colorful animals. They do not come in the vibrant purples, reds, greens, and yellows of tropical fish. Most whales are different shades of gray. Typically, a baleen whale has a dark gray back and a lighter gray underside.

Blue whales look blue underwater but actually are speckled blue-gray and white. Tiny yellow organisms sometimes grow on their undersides, making their bellies look yellow. These tiny organisms do not affect the whale at all.

Gray whales are gray with lots of white splotches. These splotches are not their natural skin coloring; they are caused by barnacles and other organisms growing on their skin. A barnacle is a small, round shellfish commonly found on boat hulls.

Humpback whales are black on top and white underneath. Bowhead and right whales are nearly all black.