Description Balaenoptera musculus
Date 18 November 2010, 14:04
Source anim1754 http://www.flickr.com/photos/noaaphotolib/5187320081/
Author NOAA Photo Library http://www.flickr.com/people/51647007@N08
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anim1754_-_Flickr_-_NOAA_Photo_Library.jpg

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the baleen whales (Mysticeti). At up to 30 metres in length and with a maximum recorded weight of 173 tonnes and probably reaching over 181 tonnes, it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. Blue whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the twentieth century. For over a century, they were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966. Order: Artiodactyla, Infraorder: Cetacea, Family: Balaenopteridae, Genus: Balaenoptera, Species: Balaenoptera musculus (Linnaeus, 1758).
Synonyms:
Balaenoptera gibbar Scoresby, 1820
Pterobalaena gigas Van Beneden, 1861
Physalus latirostris Flower, 1864
Sibbaldius borealis Gray, 1866
Flowerius gigas Lilljeborg, 1867
Sibbaldius sulfureus Cope, 1869
Balaenoptera sibbaldii Sars, 1875