Antarctic minke whale

Antarctic minke whale[1]
Temporal range: Pliocene – Recent
↓
[2]
Antarctic minke whale in Ross Sea
Diagram showing a whale and scuba diver from the side: The whale is about five times longer than a human
Size compared to an average human
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[4]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Balaenopteridae
Genus: Balaenoptera
Species complex: Minke whale species complex
Species:
B. bonaerensis
Binomial name
Balaenoptera bonaerensis
Antarctic minke whale range

The Antarctic minke whale or southern minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) is a species of minke whale within the suborder of baleen whales. It is the second smallest rorqual after the common minke whale and the third smallest baleen whale. Although first scientifically described in the mid-19th century, it was not recognized as a distinct species until the 1990s. Once ignored by the whaling industry due to its small size and low oil yield, the Antarctic minke was able to avoid the fate of other baleen whales and maintained a large population into the 21st century, numbering in the hundreds of thousands.[5] Surviving to become the most abundant baleen whale in the world, it is now one of the mainstays of the industry alongside its cosmopolitan counterpart the common minke. It is primarily restricted to the Southern Hemisphere (although vagrants have been reported in the North Atlantic) and feeds mainly on euphausiids.

  1. ^ Mead, J. G.; Brownell, R. L. Jr. (2005). "Order Cetacea". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 723–743. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ^ "Fossil works".
  3. ^ Cooke, J.G.; Zerbini, A.N.; Taylor, B.L. (2018). "Balaenoptera bonaerensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T2480A50350661. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T2480A50350661.en. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  5. ^ Branch, T. A. (2006). "Abundance estimates for Antarctic minke whales from three completed circumpolar sets of surveys, 1978/79 to 2003/04". Paper SC/58/IA18 submitted to the International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee, pp. 1–28.