Blue Whale

 

I got thinking about some of the other whales we have observed on our whale watching trips. Back in July of 2017 we took four of the grandkids out to Tadoussac Quebec whale watching. Marilyn and I have been out to Tadoussac a couple of times as whale watching is great in this area of the St Lawerence River where the fresh and salt water meet.

Minke whales, humpback whales, fin whales and blue whales come here to feed over the summer from May to October. The beluga whale is the only cetacean species to live in the St. Lawrence year round. On our trips to Tadoussac we have observed all 5 species.

Although not a great image of a Blue Whale it does showcase their size as a large portion of the whale is underwater, then you have the expose torso, then it’s underwater again, then you have the tail. About a hundred feet. Crazy.

Blue whales are the largest animals ever to live on our planet. They feed almost exclusively on krill, straining huge volumes of ocean water through their baleen plates (which hang from the roof of the mouth and work like a sieve). Some of the biggest individuals may eat up to 6 tons of krill a day.

Blue whales are found in all oceans except the Arctic Ocean. There are five currently recognized subspecies of blue whales.

The number of blue whales today is only a small fraction of what it was before modern commercial whaling significantly reduced their numbers during the early 1900s, but populations are increasing globally. The primary threats blue whales currently face are vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear.

Blue whales have a long body and generally slender shape. Their mottled blue-gray color appears light blue under water—hence their name, the blue whale. The mottling pattern is variable and can be used to identify individuals.

Antarctic blue whales are generally larger than other blue whale subspecies. For example, in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, blue whales can grow up to about 90 feet and are over 100,000 pounds, but in the Antarctic, they can reach up to about 110 feet and weigh more than 330,000 pounds. Like many other baleen whales, female blue whales are generally larger than males.

After our trip out east, we took the kids to see the Blue Whale exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto where they had a Blue Whale skeleton and heart on display. The heart is about 5 feet in length and 4 feet wide.