īlue whales were referred to as 'Sibbald's rorqual', after Robert Sibbald, who first described the species. Sars adopted it as the common name in 1874. The name 'blue whale' was derived from the Norwegian 'blåhval', coined by Svend Foyn shortly after he had perfected the harpoon gun. One of the first published descriptions of a blue whale comes from Robert Sibbald's Phalainologia Nova, after Sibbald found a stranded whale in the estuary of the Firth of Forth, Scotland, in 1692. The genus name, Balaenoptera, means winged whale while the species name, musculus, could mean 'muscle' or a diminutive form of 'mouse', possibly a pun by Carl Linnaeus when he named the species in Systema Naturae. See also: Evolution of cetaceans Nomenclature It continues to face numerous man-made threats such as ship strikes, pollution, ocean noise and climate change. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed blue whales as endangered as of 2018. It was hunted almost to the point of extinction by whalers until the International Whaling Commission banned all blue whale hunting in 1966.

The blue whale was once abundant in nearly all the Earth's oceans until the end of the 19th century. The fundamental frequency for blue whale vocalizations ranges from 8 to 25 Hz and the production of vocalizations may vary by region, season, behavior, and time of day. They are generally solitary or gather in small groups, and have no well-defined social structure other than mother-calf bonds. Blue whales are filter feeders their diet consists almost exclusively of krill. There is also evidence of year-round residencies, and partial or age/sex-based migration.

In general, blue whale populations migrate between their summer feeding areas near the poles and their winter breeding grounds near the tropics. There is also a population in the waters off Chile that may constitute a fifth subspecies. brevicauda (the pygmy blue whale) in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, B. musculus in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. The blue whale's long and slender body can be of various shades of greyish-blue dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 ft) and weighing up to 199 tonnes (196 long tons 219 short tons), it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. In these instances, Rogan recommends remaining calm and making the most of the experience.The blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. However, as Brodie discovered, sometimes whales will approach us. 'Most animals do best when they are left alone by humans.' 'Mother whales with calves might be particularly defensive. 'They could hurt us without even meaning to,' he said. Rogan explained that although humpback whales 'very rarely display aggressive behaviors' towards humans, they are still hugely powerful animals. In the USA it is illegal to approach a humpback whale, with humans told to stay 100 yards away. 'Sometimes, something sparks their curiosity and they might approach humans or boats.' 'I have spent time with humpbacks, and the vast majority of the time they just ignore you entirely. 'Just like humans, each individual whale will have a different personality,' he said. Rogan said how humpback whales behave around humans can 'vary wildly.' I would say probably six months to 2-years-old.' He told Newsweek: 'It's certainly not an adult, but it looks larger than a baby. Stock image of the tail of an albino whale's tail.

Baby whale