Balaenoptera acutorostrata
Date 1987
Source Cetaceans of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
Author NOAA United States. National Marine Fisheries Service
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balaenoptera_acutorostrata_NOAA.jpg


The common minke whale or northern minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) is a species of minke whale within the suborder of baleen whales. It is the smallest species of the rorquals and the second smallest species of baleen whale. The average length of an adult common minke whale is around 8.5 meters. The common minke whale is dark grey to black in color with a white underside and has white patches behind the head and a distinctive bright white band on the outer part of the pectoral flippers.

Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Balaenopteridae
Genus: Balaenoptera
Species complex: minke whale species complex
Species: Balaenoptera acutorostrata Lacépède, 1804
Subspecies
- B. a. acutorostrata
- B. a. scammoni
- B. a. ssp.[note 2]
Synonyms

Balaena rostrata Fabricius, 1780
Rorqualus boops F. Cuvier, 1836
Balaena minima Rapp, 1837
Balaenoptera eschrichtii Rasch, 1845
Pterobalaena minor Eschricht, 1849
Agaphelus gibbosus Cope, 1868
Balaenoptera davidsoni Scammon, 1872
Sibbaldius mondinii Capellini, 1877