BLUE WHALE

The blue whale is not only the largest whale, the blue whale is the largest
living thing on earth. They were huge, bigger than the dinosaurs. Blue whales and
other large marine creatures spend their life in seawater. Blue whales are part of the
family Balaenopteridae, which also includes humpback whales, fin whales, Bryde
whales, sei whales and minke whales. Evolutionarily, the family Balaenopteridae is
believed to be separate from other whales in the Mysticeti suborder during the
Oligocene. It is still not known when these family members separated from each
other.
Blue whales have long bodies and appear stretched when compared to the
bodies of other whales. The head is flat, U-shaped, and has a back that extends
from the blowhole to the upper lip. The front of the mouth is covered with baleen
plates (there are about 300 plates, and each about one meter long) hanging from the
upper jaw. Between 70 and 118 indentations (called the ventral plate) run along the
neck and are parallel to the length of the body. This plate helps remove water from
the mouth after eating.
Blue whale fins are approximately 3–4 meters (9.8–13.1 ft) long. The upper
part is gray with a thin white border, while the bottom part is white. The tips of the
head and tail are generally gray. The top of the blue whale, and sometimes the front
fin, is usually striped. The level of the stripes varies from person to person. Some
may be completely bluish gray in color, but others show variations of dark blue, gray,
or black, which are filled with mottles. Blue whales can travel speeds of 50
kilometers per hour (31 mph) (usually when interacting with other whales), but their
speed is usually only 20 kilometers per hour (12 mph). When eating, the speed
decreases to 5 kilometers per hour (3.1 mph).
The blue whales in the southern hemisphere are generally larger than the
blue whales that live in the northern hemisphere and the female blue whales are
larger than the male blue whales. The data on the largest-ever blue whale is
uncertain because most of the data comes from blue whales killed in Antarctic
waters during the early 20th century, which do not match zoological standards. The
largest whale mass ever recorded was 190 tonnes, while the titles for the longest
whale were two females measuring 33.6 meters (110 ft) and 33.3 meters (109 ft).

Cahya Hidayat – XI Acp

 BLUE WHALE

Blue whales' staple food is krill, although they also eat small amounts of
copepods. This zooplankton species is eaten by various blue whales from one ocean
to another. In the North Atlantic, Meganyctiphanes norvegica, Thysanoessa raschii,
Thysanoessa inermis and Thysanoessa longicaudata are common foods. In the
South Pacific, Euphausia pacifica, Thysanoessa inermis, Thysanoessa longipes,
Thysanoessa spinifera, Nyctiphanes simplex and Nematoscelis megalops in
Antarctica Euphausia superba, Euphausia crystallorophias and Euphausia vallentini.
Adult blue whales can eat as much as 40 million krill per day. They always eat
in areas with high krill concentrations, so sometimes eating up to 3,600 kilograms
(7900 pounds) of krill a day. The energy requirement of an adult blue whale in one
day is in the range of 1.5 million kilocalories. Their eating behavior is seasonal. Blue
whales fill their bellies in krill-rich waters off Antarctica before migrating to breeding
grounds in warmer, less krill-rich waters near the equator. Blue whales can receive
90 times more energy than they emit, so they have large reserves of energy.
Because krill move, blue whales usually feed at depths of more than 100 meters
(330 ft) during the day and at the surface at night. Dive times are estimated to be
around 10 minutes when consuming, although many also dive within 20 minutes.
Blue whales eat by lunging at groups of krill, thus ingesting large amounts of krill and
water. Pressure from the pouch and tongue then pushes the water out through the
baleen plate. Once water is removed from the mouth, the remaining krill are
swallowed because they cannot pass through the plate. Blue whales also
occasionally eat small fish, crustaceans and squids caught with krill.

Cahya Hidayat – XI Acp