The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest baleen whale and the largest animal that ever lived on Earth
Blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) are baleen whales (Suborder Mysticeti). They are one of 76 cetacean species, and are marine mammals.
![BlueWhaleNOAA_Photo_Library image BlueWhaleNOAA Photo Library](/images/marine/bluewhales/BlueWhaleNOAA_Photo_Library.jpg)
Facts about blue whales
General Description:
- The Blue Whale is the largest creature ever to have lived on earth.
- Though we can’t hear them, blue whales are one of the loudest animals on the planet, communicating with each other using a series of low frequency pulses, groans, and moans. It is thought that in good conditions blue whales can hear each over distances of up to 1,600km. Their call reaches levels up to 188 decibels. This low-frequency whistle can be heard for hundreds of miles. The blue whale is louder than a jet, which reaches only 140 decibels! Human shouting is 70 decibels; sounds over 120 decibels are painful to human ears.
- Blue whales occasionally swim in small pods but usually alone or in pairs.
- Blue whales breathe air at the surface of the water through 2 blowholes located near the top of the head. They spout (breathe) about 1-4 times per minute at rest, and 5-12 times per minutes after a deep dive. Their blow is a single stream that rises 40-50 feet (12-15 m) above the surface of the water.
- Amazingly, however, this giant of the ocean feeds on some of the smallest marine life – tiny shrimplike animals called krill. A single adult blue whale can consume 3,6000kg of krill a day. These enormous mammals eat tiny organisms, like plankton and krill, which they sieve through baleen.
- They mainly catch their food by diving, and descend to depths of approximately 500m.
- The blue whale's skin is usually blue-gray with white-gray spots. The underbelly has brown, yellow, or gray specks. During the winter in cold waters, diatoms stick to the underbelly, giving it a yellow to silver- to sulfur-colored sheen; they are sometimes called "sulfur bottom."
- They have a very small, falcate (sickle-shaped) dorsal fin that is located near the flukes (tail). Blue whales have long, thin flippers 8 feet long (2.4 m) and flukes that are 25 feet (7.6 m) wide.
- Blue whales are very fast swimmers; they normally swim 3-20 mph (4.8-32 kph), but can go up to 24-30 mph (38-48 kph) in bursts when in danger. Feeding speeds are slower, about 1-4 mph (1.6-6.2 kph).
- Blue whales have a life expectancy of 35-40 years.
![BlueWhalesize image BlueWhalesize](/images/marine/bluewhales/BlueWhalesize.jpg)
Size:
- Blue whales grow to be about 80 feet (25 m) long on average, weighing about 120 tons (109 tonnes). The largest specimen found was a female 94 feet (29 m) long weighing more 174 tons (158 tonnes). The females are larger than males, as with all baleen whales. The largest of the blue whales (150 tons) has a heart that weighs about 1,000 pounds (450 kg) and has 14,000 pounds (6,400 kg) of blood circulating in its body.
- The heart is about the size of a Volkswagon bug car.
- Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant. Their hearts, as much as a car.