What is the scientific name of the blue whale?
Q: What is the scientific name of the blue whale?
A: The scientific name of the blue whale is Balaenoptera musculus.
Q: How long can a blue whale grow to be?
A: Blue whales can grow to be about 30 meters long. The biggest blue whale found was 98 feet long, and larger specimens have been measured at 110 feet.
Q: What do blue whales eat?
A: Blue whales mainly eat very tiny creatures, like krill, which are inch-long shrimp-like crustaceans that swim in swarms. In the Antarctic summer, there are so many of these krill that they turn the waters orange. A blue whale can eat eight to ten tons of krill every day.
Q: What does a blue whale look like?
A: The body of a blue whale is long and slender, and it can be various shades of bluish-grey above and somewhat lighter underneath.
Q: Are there different subspecies of blue whales?
A: Yes, there are at least three distinct subspecies of blue whales - B. m. musculus (found in the North Atlantic and North Pacific), B. m. intermedia (found in the Southern Ocean) and B. m. brevicauda (also known as the pygmy blue whale) found in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean). There may also be another subspecies called B. m indica which is found in the Indian Ocean as well..
Q: When wereblue whales protected by international law?
A: Blue whales were finally protected by international law in 1966 after being hunted almost to extinction by whalers during the 19th century .
Q Where can you see a population of North Atlantic Blue Whales today?
A You can see a population of North Atlantic Blue Whales today at Saguenay-St Lawrence Marine Park near Tadoussac QC Canada
