Scuba Diving club,
Southern California
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The Minke Whale is found from the
polar ice-edge to the tropics, and, although mainly an oceanic species, will
come quite near to the coast. It does not strictly migrate, but follows its
food source.
Classification:
Lacépède classified
this species as Balaenoptera acutorostrata in 1804. A subspecies was
identified by Burmeister in 1867 - Balaenoptera acutorostrata bonaerensis,
an inhabitant of the Southern Hemisphere that is distinguishable by the absence
of a white band on each flipper.
Local Names: Little Piked Whale; Pike Whale;
Little Finner; Lesser Finback; Pikehead; Sharpheaded Finner; Lesser Rorqual.
The common name is derived from the Norwegian 'Minkehval'.
Description: The Minke Whale is the smallest of
the rorquals, measuring between 8-10m in length and weighing between
8-13.5 tonnes. It is stocky but slender, with a small, narrow triangular head
and pointed, paddle-like flippers. The dorsal is relatively tall, and is set
about two thirds of the way along the back. The body colour is dark slate grey,
with paler grey to white on the undersides and throat, on which there are
between 50-70 grooves. Each flipper usually bears a bright white band which is
noticably absent in the subsecies, Balaenoptera acutorostrata bonaerensis. There
are between 460-720 baleen plates per animal, the longest of which is 30cm in
length.
Recognition
at Sea: This is an
inquistive cetacean, unlike the other rorquals, and will frequently approach
and linger around ships. This behaviour and the whale's small size make it easy
to identify. The blow is about 2-3m high and can only be seen in good weather.
Habitat: This species is found both inshore
and offshore, in waters both polar, tropical and temperate.
Food &
Feeding: Minke Whales
seem to feed very little in warm waters. In both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere,
the preferred diet is euphausiids, though those in the former will also take
shoaling fish and small free-swimming molluscs.
Behaviour: Minke Whales regularly occur
either in groups of 2-3 or as individuals, with large congregations amassing on
feeding grounds. The whale communicates via grunts, clicks, pulses and
breaching.
Longevity: Approximately 60 years.
Estimated
Current Population: 610,000
- 1,284,000 animals.
The Influence
of Man: This species
was never considered commercially or economically worthwhile until the 1970s,
until large catches were taken in the Antarctic by Japan and the Former Soviet
Union. When the IWC's Moratorium on Commercial Whaling came into effect in
1986, only catches under scientific permit have been allowed, chiefly by Japan
and Norway. However, despite this 'scientific permit', the meat from these
whales - and many other species - still ends up on many butchers' slabs.
Iceland
Restarts Whaling Amid Worldwide Outcry
Moby
Dick-Japanese and Whales dieing for Sushi
Japan
May Become Pirate Whaling Nation
Whaling Nations Want to restart Hunt
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Posted August 20, 2003