The common minke whale or northern minke whale (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'') is a species of

minke whale The minke whale (), or lesser rorqual, is a species complex of baleen whale. The two species of minke whale are the common (or northern) minke whale and the Antarctic (or southern) minke whale. The minke whale was first described by the Danish na ...

within the suborder of

baleen whale Baleen whales (), also known as whalebone whales, are marine mammals of the order (biology), parvorder Mysticeti in the infraorder Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises), which use baleen plates (or "whalebone") in their mouths to sieve plankt ...

s. It is the smallest species of the

rorqual Rorquals () are the largest clade, group of baleen whales, comprising the family (biology), family Balaenopteridae, which contains nine extant taxon, extant species in two genus, genera. They include the largest known animal that has ever lived, ...

s and the second smallest species of

. Although first ignored by whalers due to its small size and low oil yield, it began to be exploited by various countries beginning in the early 20th century. As other species declined, larger numbers of common minke whales were caught, largely for their meat. It is now one of the primary targets of the whaling industry. There is a dwarf form in the Southern Hemisphere. This species is known in the fossil record from the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

period (age range: 3.6 million years ago to present day). Balaenopteridae - Balaenoptera acutorostrata cuvieri

Vernacular names

The origins of the species' common name are obscure. One of the first references to the name came in Henrik Johan Bull's account of his 1893–95 voyage to the Antarctic, when he mentioned catching a small whale "called in the Arctic language a Mencke whale, after a German who accompanied Mr. Foyn on some of his voyages."Bull, H. J. (1896). ''The cruise of the 'Antarctic' to the South Polar regions''. London: Edward Arnold. According to the British writer

John Guille Millais John Guille Millais ( , also ; 24 March 1865 – 24 March 1931) was a British artist, naturalist, gardener and travel writer who specialised in wildlife and flower portraiture. He travelled extensively around the world in the late Victorian per ...

(''The mammals of Great Britain and Ireland'', 1906, vol. 3, p. 279), "Minkie was a Norwegian seaman who was always calling 'Hval' at whatever backfin he saw. He is now regarded as the type of the 'tenderfoot' at sea. Norwegians often refer to any small whale with some contempt or amusement as a 'Minkie' or 'Minkie's hval'."Allen, G. M. (1916). ''The whalebone whales of New England''. Boston. The American marine biologist and painter Richard Ellis, citing the Norwegian scientist Age Jonsgård, stated "that Meincke was a German laborer working for Svend Foyn, inventor of the grenade harpoon. Meincke 'one day mistook a school of this whale species for blue whales.... most probably he made this mistake during Foyn's whaling operations in the Varanger Fjord between 1868 and 1885."Ellis, Richard. 1980. ''The Book of Whales''. Alfred Knopf, New York. It has formerly been known as the little piked whale, the lesser or least rorqual, and the sharp-headed finner. American whalemen in the 19th century simply thought of them as "young finbacks" or a "Finback's calf", apparently under the impression that they were juveniles of their larger relative, the

fin whale The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as the finback whale or common rorqual, is a species of baleen whale and the second-longest cetacean after the blue whale. The biggest individual reportedly measured in length, wi ...

. They were also called zwergwal (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: "dwarf whale") or vågehval ( Norwegian: "bay whale"). In Japan they are called koiwashi-kujira ("little sardine whale") or minku-kujira ("minke whale").Omura, H. and H. Sakiura. (1956). "Studies on the little piked whale from the coast of Japan". ''Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst.'', 11: 1-37. In

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

they are known by the Danish name sildepisker ("herring thresher"). In Spanish it is known as Rorcual aliblanco (Whitewing Rorcual), Ballena minke común (Common Minke whale) or Ballena enana (Dwarf whale).

Taxonomy

History

Otto Fabricius, in his ''Fauna Groenlandica'' (1780), was the first to describe the minke, noting its small size and white baleen – but he described it erroneously under the name ''Balaena rostrata'' (the taxonomic designation for the beaked whale). In 1804, Baron de Lacepede named it ''Balaenoptera acuto-rostrata'', basing his description partly on the stranding of a juvenile female near Cherbourg, France in 1791.True, F. W. (1904). ''The whalebone whales of the western North Atlantic: Compared with those occurring in European waters''. Washington: Smithsonian institution. In 1872, the American whaleman and naturalist Charles Melville Scammon described and named ''Balaenoptera davidsoni'', after an pregnant female that was found dead on the north shore of Admiralty Inlet in October 1870 in then

Washington Territory The Washington Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

(now

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

) and towed into Port Townsend Bay by Italian fisherman, who flensed it on the beach. Scammon mentioned its "dwarfish size", "pointed head", "falcated dorsal fin", and the "white band" on its "inordinately small, pointed pectorals". In 1877, the Italian geologist and paleontologist Giovanni Capellini described and named ''Sibbaldius mondini'' from a juvenile specimen that was captured off Italy in 1771. Both were later synonymized with ''B. acutorostrata''. A smaller, Southern Hemisphere form of minke whale with white-banded flippers was first described in separate studies by Peter Best (1985) and Peter Arnold, Helene Marsh, and George Heinsohn (1987), though a white-flippered form in the Southern Hemisphere had been noted earlier. The former described a "diminutive form" based on specimens caught off

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, while the latter named a "dwarf form" based on specimens and sightings from Australia. This unnamed subspecies has a prominent white flipper and shoulder blaze and a dark throat patch, whereas what was called the "dark-shouldered" or "ordinary" form of minke whale (now known as a separate species, the Antarctic minke whale, ''B. bonaerensis'') lacked these contrasting markings. Until recently, all minke whales were considered a single species. However, the common minke whale was recognized as a separate species from the Antarctic minke whale based on

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

testing. This testing also confirmed that the Antarctic minke whale is the closest relative of the common minke whale, thus confirming the validity of the minke whale

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

Divergence

Common and Antarctic minke whales diverged from each other in the Southern Hemisphere 4.7 million years ago, during a prolonged period of

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

in the early

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Antarctic Circumpolar Current and created local pockets of upwelling, facilitating speciation by fragmenting populations. The radiation of common minke whales into the Northern Hemisphere occurred rapidly about 1.5 million years ago during a period of cooling in the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Hybrids

There have been two confirmed hybrids between common and Antarctic minke whales. Both were caught in the northeastern North Atlantic by Norwegian whaling vessels. The first, an female taken off western

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

() on 20 June 2007, was the result of a pairing between a female Antarctic minke and a male common minke. The second, a pregnant female taken off northwestern Spitsbergen () on 1 July 2010, on the other hand, had a common minke mother and an Antarctic minke father. Her female fetus, in turn, was fathered by a North Atlantic common minke, demonstrating that back-crossing is possible between hybrids of the two species.

Description

Size

Balaenoptera acutorostrata 3d scan Natural History Museum University of Pisa C 261

Balaenoptera acutorostrata Saint-Laurent 01a

Balaenoptera acutorostrata Saint-Laurent 03

The common minke whale is the smallest of the

s, and one of the smallest baleen whales (second smallest only to the

Pygmy right whale The pygmy right whale (''Caperea marginata'') is a species of baleen whale. It may be a member of the cetotheres, a family of baleen whales which until 2012 were thought to be extinct; ''C. marginata'' has otherwise been considered the sole m ...

). In the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

, Norwegian whaling vessels in 1940 allegedly caught individuals of up to in length, but they were likely only measured visually in comparison to objects of known dimensions aboard the ships themselves – the longest caught in subsequent years were typically only up to in length. In the North Pacific, Soviet vessels operating out of the Kuril Islands claimed to have caught two males of 12.2 (40 ft) and and a female of – the first two were landed in 1951, the third in 1960.Ivashin, M. (1992). "USSR catch and sightings data". ''Report of the Scientific Committee on North Pacific minke whales'' (Appendix 7), p. 168. These likely represent undersized sei whales, part of the massive misreporting of whaling data by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in the

North Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

and elsewhere. The longest measured by

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic scientists were an male and a female, while the longest caught by the Japanese in the western North Pacific were males and a female – the latter caught off eastern

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

in 1977. For the dwarf form, the longest reported are a male caught in May 1973 and a 7.77 (25.5 ft) female caught in May 1970, both taken off South Africa. Males caught in the western North Pacific and weighed whole on a truck scale averaged between 2.85 and 4.23 metric tons (3.14 and 4.66 short tons) (range: 0.86 to 6.36 metric tons, 0.95 to 7.01 short tons), while females averaged between 1.93 and 3.63 metric tons (2.13 and 4.00 short tons) (range: 0.84 to 8.35 metric tons, 0.93 to 9.20 short tons).Kishiro, T., Kato, H., Ohizumi, H., Yoshida, H., Saito, T., Isoda, T., Tabata, S., Sakakibara, M., Saino, S., Hara, T., Hayashi, T., Miyashita, T., Fukudome, K., Kiwada, H., and Kawahara, S. (2003).
Report of the 2002 JARPN II survey in the western North Pacific. Part II: Coastal component – Coastal survey off Kushiro, northeast Japan
. ''Paper SC/55/O8 submitted to the 55th IWC Scientific Committee'', 26pp.Yoshida, H., Kato, H., Kishiro, T., Iwasaki, T., Miyashita, T., Ryono, T., Tabata, S., Sakakibara, M., Saino, S., Hara, T., Hayashi, T., Tomizawa, Y., Tamai, K., Okamoto, R., Fukuoka, M., Watanabe, H., Tsunekawa, M., and Kawahara, S. (2004).
Report of the coastal survey on common minke whales off Sanriku coast, northeast Japan: the Japanese whale research program under special permit in the western North Pacific–Phase II (JARPN II) in 2003 (Part II) – Coastal component
. ''Paper SC/56/O14 submitted to the 56th IWC Scientific Committee'', 31pp.Kishiro, T., Kato, H., Yoshida, H., Miyashita, T., Ryono, T., Tabata, S., and Kawahara, S. (2005). "Cruise report of the coastal survey on common minke whales off Kushiro, northeast Japan: the 2004 JARPN II survey (Part II) – Coastal component". ''Paper SC/57/O4 submitted to the 57th IWC Scientific Committee'', 37pp.Yoshida, H., Kato, H., Kishiro, T., Iwasaki, T., Miyashita, T., Saito, T., Shigeo, T., Morita, Y., Sato, H., Okada, A., Tomizawa, Y., Saino, S., Kuroishi, H., Ebisui, T., Nakai, K., Nishiwaki, S., and S. Kawahara. (2006). "Cruise report of the second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the western North Pacific (JARPN II) in 2005 – Coastal component off Sanriku". ''Paper SC/58/09 Submitted to the 58th IWC Scientific Committee'', 30 pp.Kishiro, T., Kato, H., Yoshida, H., Miyashita, T., Ryono, T., Tabata, S., and Kawahara, S. (2006). "Cruise report of the Second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the western North Pacific (JARPN II) in 2005 – Coastal component off Kushiro". ''Paper SC/58/O10 submitted to the 58th IWC Scientific Committee'', 32pp.Goto, M., Kato, H., Zenitani, R., Yoshida, H., Saito, T., Tabata, S., and Kawahara, S. (2007). "Cruise report of the second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Western North Pacific (JARPN II) in 2006 – Coastal component off Sanriku". ''Paper SC/59/O6 submitted to the 59th IWC scientific Committee'', 34pp.Yoshida, H., Kato, H., Kishiro, T., Miyashita, T., Iwasaki, T., Minamikawa, S., and Kawahara, S. (2007). "Cruise report of the second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Western North Pacific (JARPN II) in 2006 – Coastal component off Kushiro". Paper SC/59/O7 submitted to the 59th IWC Scientific Committee, 43pp.Bando, T., Kato, H., Kishiro, T., Goto, M., Saito, T., Tabata, S., and Kawahara, S. (2008). "Cruise report of the second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Western North Pacific (JARPN II) in 2007 – Coastal component off Sanriku". ''Paper SC/60/O6 submitted to the 60th IWC scientific Committee'', 27pp.Kishiro, T., Kato, H., Yoshida, H., Miyashita, T., Iwasaki, T., Kanaji, Y., and Kawahara, S. (2008). "Cruise report of the Second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the western North Pacific (JARPN II) in 2007 – Coastal component off Kushiro". ''Paper SC/60/O7 submitted to the 60th IWC Scientific Committee'', 33pp. At sexual maturity, males and females in the North Atlantic average between and , while in the North Pacific they average between and . At physical maturity, males and females in the North Atlantic average between and , while in the North Pacific they are slightly smaller, averaging only , respectively. At birth, they are estimated to be in length and weigh . They are thought to be weaned at about in length. For the dwarf form, they are thought to reach sexual maturity at around for females and for males and are estimated to be about at birth. Whale watching Tadoussac 04

Appearance

Northern form

Common minke whales are among the most robust members of their genus, the greatest height of their body being one-fifth their total length. They have a narrow, pointed, triangular rostrum with a low splashguard. Their prominent, upright, falcate dorsal fin averages about in height – range – and is set about two-thirds the way along the back. They are dark gray dorsally and clean white ventrally. The lower jaw projects beyond the upper jaw and is dark gray on both sides – though, like the dwarf form, it can have a ''white mandible blaze'' at the rear corner of the right lower jaw. An indistinct light gray ''rostral saddle'' may be present, and a few individuals can have pale, thin ''blowhole streaks'' trailing from the blowholes. A thin, light gray, forward-directed chevron, called the ''shoulder streak'', lies between the pectoral fins. Two light gray to whitish swaths, called the ''thorax'' and ''flank patches'', join ventrally in the mid-lateral region, with the former the brighter of the two. The pectoral fins are relatively small, averaging about 73 cm (about 2.4 ft) in length (maximum: 1.38 m, or about 4.5 ft). They have a transverse, white band on their outer margins, which is the most distinguishing feature of the species. In most individuals (about 94% in the western North Pacific) it is a clear white band, but in a minority of cases (about 6%) it only forms an obscure white band – about 29% of the individuals sampled from the Sea of Japan had this type of flipper band. The smooth-sided flukes average about in width and can be nearly 3 m (about 9.8 ft) wide. They are light gray or white ventrally and bordered by dark gray. The baleen plates, which number about 230 to 360 pairs and average about , are creamy white with a fine white fringe – a small percentage in the western North Pacific (mainly larger individuals) have a thin black band along the outer margin. They possess 50 to 70 thin ventral pleats, which only extend about 47 percent of the body length – among the shortest relative to body length among the rorquals, second only to the sei whale.Dorsey, E. M., Stern, S. J., Hoelzel, A. R., and Jacobsen, J. (1990). "Minke whales (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'') from the west coast of North America: individual recognition and small-scale site fidelity". ''Reports of the International Whaling Commission'' (Special Issue 12): 357-368.

Dwarf form

The dwarf minke whale has similar proportions to the northern form, with an upright, hooked dorsal fin set about two-thirds the way along the back that is up to in height. It has 55 to 67 ventral grooves. Its baleen – in length – is mostly white, with up to 45 per cent of the posterior plates shading from black to dusky gray along their outer margins. The dwarf form has the most complex coloration of any baleen whale. Dark gray fields and capes alternate with light gray and white blazes, patches, and streaks. The dark gray ''spinal field'' lies above an ivory white ''ventral field''. This spinal field extends down into a ''nape field'', which separates a light gray ''rostral saddle'' and a light gray, triangular, usually forwardly peaked ''thorax patch''. The nape field, in turn, extends even further down into a ''dark throat patch'', which reaches down to the ventral pleats and extends back to the front of the pectoral fins. Further back the spinal field extends into a ''dark thorax field'', which usually forms an inverted triangle between the thorax patch and the light gray ''flank patch''. This flank patch can be separated into an ''anterior'' and ''posterior flank patch'' by a dark triangular or even wave-like ''flank infill''. Finally, the dark ''peduncle field'' covers the posterior portion of the caudal peduncle to the tips of the dorsal side of the flukes, which are white ventrally and thinly bordered by dark gray. The most prominent features on the dwarf minke whale are the white ''flipper'' and ''shoulder blazes''. The former covers the proximal two-thirds of the pectoral fin and continues along its leading edge, while the latter connects to the thorax patch above. A variably sized, dark oval ''auxiliary patch'' (formerly called a "flipper oval") lies behind the pectoral fin, often appearing to merge with the dark gray ''distal flipper patch'', which occupies the distal third of the pectoral fin. This auxiliary patch is often completely separated from the thorax patch by the white of the shoulder blaze and a vertical extension of the ventral field, but can also narrowly or even broadly attach to it. A ''mandible blaze'' usually covers the posterior third of the right lower jaw, while the left side is normally dark gray. Similarly, a white ''eye blaze'' is usually present on the right side, but rarely on the left. The rostral saddle likewise shows asymmetrical coloration, extending further on the right side than on the left and having a more well defined posterior right margin; the left, meanwhile, often has a diffuse posterior margin. A white ''peduncle blaze'' extends up from the ventral field, being bordered on each side by light gray double ''caudal chevrons'', which extend down from the peduncle field and flank patch, respectively. A variably shaped, thin, light gray line, called the ''nape streak'' (analogous to the "shoulder streak" or "chevron" of the northern form), extends laterally down the back between the pectoral fins. It can point forward, backwards or form a straight line; this variability can help to identify individual whales. A pair of light gray ''blowhole streaks'' extend posteriorly behind the blowholes, often curving to the left – the left more strongly than the right. Occasionally fine ''ear stripes'' may be present behind the opening of the auditory meatus, while dark or light speckling or streaking can occur along the flanks as well as what are called ''tiger stripes'' – "parallel, dark, usually vertical stripes". Like

Bryde's whale Bryde's whale ( ), or the Bryde's whale complex, putatively comprises three species of rorqual and possibly four. The "complex" means the number and classification remain unclear because of a lack of definitive information and research. The c ...

(and occasionally blue and fin whales), dwarf minkes can exhibit auxiliary ridges on either side of the central ridge of the rostrum.

Distribution

Range

Common minke whales have a disjointed distribution. In the North Atlantic, they occur as far north as

Baffin Bay Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; ; ; ), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is sometimes considered a s ...

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

Franz Josef Land Franz Josef Land () is a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It is inhabited only by military personnel. It constitutes the northernmost part of Arkhangelsk Oblast and consists of 192 islands, which cover an area of , stretching from east ...

, and

Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; , ; ), also spelled , is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, considered the extreme points of Europe ...

and as far south as 40°N (

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

) and the

Hebrides The Hebrides ( ; , ; ) are the largest archipelago in the United Kingdom, off the west coast of the Scotland, Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Ou ...

and central

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

during summer. There are a few records from

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

(

James Bay James Bay (, ; ) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. It borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and is politically part of Nunavut. Its largest island is Akimiski Island. Numerous waterways of the ...

in 1986 and Button Bay in 1990), and they have also been observed occasionally in

Hudson Strait Hudson Strait () in Nunavut links the Atlantic Ocean and the Labrador Sea to Hudson Bay in Canada. This strait lies between Baffin Island and Nunavik, with its eastern entrance marked by Cape Chidley in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut ...

and Ungava Bay. They have been recorded off

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

Freitas, L, Dinis, A. and Alves, F. (2006). "Occurrence and distribution of cetaceans off Maderia archipelago (Portugal)". ''Twentieth annual conference of the European Cetacean Society'' (poster abstract). and occur year-round off the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

. There are occasional sightings and strandings off Spain and Portugal, western Sahara,

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

, and

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. It is rare off the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

and a vagrant in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

and the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, with a few records from the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

(1880 and 1926). During the winter it has been recorded off

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

, the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

, the Antilles, the east coast of the United States south of 40°N, and in the southeastern North Atlantic between 10°40'N and 19°35'N and 22°W and 20°05'W. In the western and central

, they range from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

,Norris, T., Martin, S., Thomas, L., Yack, T., Oswald, J. N., Nosal, E. M., and Janik, V. (2012). "Acoustic ecology and behavior of minke whales in the Hawaiian and Marianas Islands: localization, abundance estimation, and characterization of minke whale 'boings'". In ''The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life'' (pp. 149-153). Springer, New York. the

East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

, the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. Names It is one of four ...

and the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

in the south to the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

and Bering and

Chukchi Sea The Chukchi Sea (, ), sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk, is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, ...

s in the north. In the eastern North Pacific, they occur in the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska ( Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the ...

south along the entire west coast of North America (including the U.S. states of Alaska, Washington,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and CaliforniaLeatherwood, S., Stewart, B. S., and Folkens, P. A. (1987). ''Cetaceans of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary''. National Marine Sanctuary Program. and the Canadian province of British Columbia) down to

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

and into the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

.Tershy, B. R., Breese, D., and Strong, C. S. (1990). "Abundance, seasonal distribution and population composition of balaenopterid whales in the Canal de Ballenas, Gulf of California, Mexico". ''Reports of the International Whaling Commission'', ''Special'' (12): 369-375. During winter, they've been acoustically recorded mainly between 15° and 35°N in the eastern and central North Pacific. The dwarf form has been recorded off

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

(June to February, including the states of

Maranhão Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...

Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...

, Bahía,

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attracti ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sol) from 2°44'S to 33°35'S,Magalhaes, F. A., Severo, M. M., Tosi, C. H., Garri, R. G., Zerbini, A. N., Chellappa, S. and Silva, F. J. L. (2007). "Record of a dwarf minke whale (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'') in northern Brazil". ''JMBA2 – Biodiversity Records'' published online: 2 pp.

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, in the

Beagle Channel Beagle Channel (; Yahgan language, Yahgan: ''Onašaga'') is a strait in the Tierra del Fuego, Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, on the extreme southern tip of South America between Chile and Argentina. The channel separates the larger main island of I ...

and Goree Passage of southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

(February to April), off

(May to August),

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

(March to December, including

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, Victoria,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

(March to August),

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, and as far south as the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

Gerlache Strait Gerlache Strait or de Gerlache Strait or Détroit de la Belgica is a Channel (geography), channel/strait separating the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctic Peninsula. The Belgian Antarctic Expedition, under Lt. Adrien de Gerlache, explored the ...

, and the Bellingshausen Sea (69°25'S).

Population

North Atlantic

There are estimated to be over 180,000 common minke whales in the North Atlantic. Sighting surveys conducted in the Northeastern Atlantic between 1996 and 2001 resulted in an estimated abundance of 107,205 whales, with 43,835 in the Barents Sea region, 26,718 around

Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norway, Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: la ...

, 18,174 in the Greenland Sea and around the Svalbard archipelago, and 17,895 in the northern North Sea. There are an estimated 67,225 whales off Iceland. Based on an aerial survey performed in waters between northern

Disko Island Disko Island (, ) is a large island in Baffin Bay, off the west coast of Greenland. It has an area of ,Cape Farewell ( 60°N) during August and September 2005, there are estimated to be 4,856 individuals (95% confidence interval (CV): 1,910-12,348) off Western Greenland; a ship-based survey made during September and October of the same year came up with a similar estimate of 4,479 (95% CI: 1,760-11,394). In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, line-transect aerial surveys done in August–September 1995 and July–August 1996 estimated there were 1,020 minke whales there, with about 75% of them on the North Shore shelf. Estimates published in 2021 (based on 2014-2019 data) indicate that there are up to 150,000 individuals in Norwegian waters. Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research say that these estimates are 50% higher than previous.

North Pacific

Ship-based sighting surveys that covered the Okhotsk Sea during August 1989 and August–September 1990 and adjacent areas of the Northwest Pacific during July and August 1990 estimated there were 25,049 (95% CI: 13,700-45,800) minke whales there, with 19,209 (95% CI: 10,100-36,600) in the Okhotsk Sea and 5,841 (95% CI: 2,800-12,000) in the Northwest Pacific. A sighting survey conducted in the central Bering Sea between July and August 1999 estimated there were 936 (95% CI: 473-1,852) individuals in those waters, while line-transect sighting surveys that cruised from the central

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

east to the

Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe ...

from July–August 2001 – 2003 estimated there were 1,232 (95% CI: 646-2,346) whales in that area, with the majority of the sightings around the eastern Aleutian Islands, particularly in and around Seguam Pass and the Islands of Four Mountains; a few sightings were also made along the

Alaska Peninsula The Alaska Peninsula (also called Aleut Peninsula or Aleutian Peninsula, ; Sugpiaq language, Sugpiaq: ''Aluuwiq'', ''Al'uwiq'') is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. T ...

and near

Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (, ) is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the Un ...

. In the coastal waters of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, there are estimated to be 475 (95% CI: 221-1,020) whales based on sightings from ship-based line-transect surveys made during the summers of 2004 and 2005.

Southern Hemisphere

There are no population estimates for dwarf minke whales due to sighting surveys not being able to distinguish it from the much more common Antarctic minke whale.

Occurrence

Site fidelity

Minke whales were individually identified using the shape of the dorsal fin and nicks along its edges, variations in lateral body pigmentation, and small oval scars in three separate study sites on the western coast of North America. These individuals showed strong small-scale site fidelity. A total of 55 whales were identified, 30 in the

San Juan Islands The San Juan Islands is an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...

from 1980 to 1984, 17 in the

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by about 75 miles (120 km), accessible via California S ...

area of central

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

from 1984 to 1987, and eight in the

Johnstone Strait Johnstone Strait () is a channel along the north east coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Opposite the Vancouver Island coast, running north to south, are Hanson Island, West Cracroft Island, the mainland British Columbia C ...

area of

from 1981 to 1987 – although in the last region most were only photographed incidentally to the study of

killer whale The orca (''Orcinus orca''), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'', it is recognizable by its black-and-white-patterned body. A cosmopolit ...

s. The number of sightings per individual ranged from only one in one year to 37 over nine years, with 31 whales (56.4%) being sighted in at least two years and 12 (21.8%) being seen in at least five years. Most were seen exclusively or almost exclusively in one of three sub-regions in the San Juan Islands and one of two sub-regions in the Monterey Bay area. In the San Juan Islands, 14 out of 18 whales were within their primary range on at least 94 per cent of sightings. Of the three sub-regions, Range A, northwest of

Orcas Island Orcas Island () is the largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, in northwestern Washington, United States. History and naming of the island The name "Orcas" is a shortened form of ''Horcasitas,'' from Juan Vicente de Güemes P ...

, had the most stable constituency, with five individuals seen repeatedly over the study period, accounting for all but one of 88 sightings. Range B, east of San Juan Island, had the least stable constituency as well as the lowest number of sightings per year, while Range C, south and west of San Juan Island, had the greatest number of sightings and the greatest number of identified individuals every year. One whale, S4, was repeatedly and consistently found in Range B for three years, but was never seen there again after 1982; few sightings were made since then and all of these occurred in 1984, most of them involving three whales that were usually found in Range A (S8, S10, and S13). In Range C, five whales were seen there every year, while seven were only seen in a single year – most of the latter individuals were never encountered in any other part of the study site. There were also whales that showed no site fidelity at all, moving freely between the sub-regions. For example, whale S9, although only being sighted five times over four years, had sightings evenly divided between ranges B and C; whale S5, on the other hand, encountered 27 times over the course of eight years, was seen in more than one range in most years and moved around the three sub-regions more than any other whale. In the Monterey Bay area, Range A was north of the deep-water canyon that runs into Carmel Bay, while Range B was south of that canyon. Individuals were sighted within one of the two ranges on at least 88 per cent of the sightings, with whales even being observed to turn around as they approached the border of their primary range and head back toward the middle of their range – this happened five times at the northern border and twice at the southern border of Range A, and six times at the northern border of Range B. Whales were sighted within of the coast, occasionally just outside the kelp, most of the time moving in a more or less straight line. During a study conducted around the

Isle of Mull The Isle of Mull or simply Mull ( ) is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides (after Skye) and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the Council areas of Scotland, council area of Argyll and Bute. Covering , Mull is the fourth-lar ...

, northwest Scotland, between 1990 and 1999 during the months of May to October, 66 minke whales were photo-identified based on the shape of the dorsal fin and distinctive notches and marks on it, body scars, and white oval scars – lateral body pigmentation was often not visible. Of these, 30 were seen at least twice, with 21 of them sighted in more than one year; one individual was identified 27 times over the course of ten years. During a similar study performed during whale watching cruises in the southern outer

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; , or ) is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of the north of Scotland. It is the largest firth in Scotland, stretching from Duncans ...

, northeast Scotland, between 2001 and 2007 from May to October, 34 individuals were photo-identified. Fourteen of them (41%) were sighted one or more times, while seven individuals (20%) were seen in one or more years. One whale was seen three times between 2002 and 2006; another four times between 2001 and 2006; and a third a total of eight times between 2001 and 2006.Gill, A., Fairbairns, B., and Fairbairns, R. (2000). "Photo-identification of the minke whale (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'') around the Isle of Mull, Scotland". ''Report to the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust''.Baumgartner, N. (2008). ''Distribution, diving behaviour and identification of the North Atlantic minke whale in northeast Scotland'' (Doctoral dissertation, Aberdeen University). In a photo-identification study of minke whales off Iceland conducted between 2001 and 2010, a total of 353 whales were individually identified: 292 in Faxaflói Bay, on the southwest coast, and 61 in

Skjálfandi Skjálfandi (; also known as Skjálfandaflói ) is a bay in northern Iceland, with some of the characteristics of a fjord. The Icelandic word ''Skjálfandi'' literally translates to ''trembling'' which may refer to earthquakes in the area. The ...

Bay, on the northeast coast. In Faxaflói Bay, 68 (23.3%) were resighted at least once, with 53 (18.2%) being resighted in two years, nine (3.1%) in three years, and six (2.1%) in four years. The majority in Skjálfandi was only sighted in one year, while ten (16.4%) were resighted at least once, four (6.6%) in two years, and six (9.8%) in three years or more. One whale, first photographed in Skjálfandi Bay in July 2002, moved repeatedly between the two study sites over a period of nearly ten years, sometimes being sighted in both areas in the same season. In the St. Lawrence estuary, using dorsal fin shape and scars and lateral body pigmentation and scarring, a total of 209 minke whales were individually identified during the summer months between 1999 and 2004. Thirty-five were what were called "regular visitors", being sighted on at least 40 different days in four to six different years. Twenty-five showed strong small-scale site fidelity to either the Laurentian Channel Head or the Saguenay Fjord, with over three-quarters of their sightings occurring in one of these two areas.Tscherter, U. and Morris, C. (2005). "Identifying a majority of minke whales (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'') in the St. Lawrence based on the presence of dorsal fin edge marks". In Evans, P. G. H. and V. Ridoux (eds.). ''European research on cetaceans'', Vol. 159. ''Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference of the European Cetacean Society'', ''La Rochelle'', 2005.Morris, C. and Tscherter, U. (2006). "Site fidelity of individual minke whales (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'') in the St. Lawrence estuary". ''Poster presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the European Cetacean Society in Gdynia'' (abstract only). Off

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, forty individuals were reliably identified using dorsal fin notches during the summer months (mainly July and August) between 1997 and 2008. Of these, fourteen (35%) were sighted on more than one day, while only five (12.5%) were seen in more than one year.Bartha, G. B., Gowans, S., Simard, P., Tetley, M., and Keith, E. O. (2011). "Population size and site fidelity of North Atlantic minke whales (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata acutorostrata'') off the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada". ''Aquatic Mammals'' 37 (4): 454-463 (abstract only).

Migration and movements

Three minke whales tagged off Iceland showed large-scale movements. One tagged off the north coast on 20 August 2002 first moved northeast of Iceland on 31 October before heading south, reaching on 8 November. Another, tagged in Faxaflói Bay on 14 September 2004, turned south along the Reykjanes Ridge about two weeks later; its last signal was received on 8 October at about . The third traveled the greatest distance. After being tagged in Faxaflói Bay on 27 August 2004 its first signal wasn't received until 17 November, when it was over the

Mid-Atlantic Ridge The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a Divergent boundary, divergent or constructive Plate tectonics, plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest mountai ...

, west of northern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Its next position was transmitted six days later, some to the south, around the

, while its last signal was received on 5 December along the

Canary Current The Canary Current is a wind-driven surface current that is part of the North Atlantic Gyre. This eastern boundary current branches south from the North Atlantic Current and flows southwest about as far as Senegal where it turns west and later jo ...

, northwest of the

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

Islands. In all, it traveled from its tagging location in a little over 100 days.Víkingsson, G. A. and M. P. Heide-Jørgensen. (2013). "Migration and local movements of common minke whales tracked by satellite in the North Atlantic during 2001-2010". ''Reports of the International Whaling Commission's Icelandic Special Meeting'', pp. 1-12. In the eastern North Pacific, individually identified minke whales were found to make intra-annual movements between feeding areas. Two whales traveled from southern (April) to northern

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

(July), while one whale moved from the southwest coast of Vancouver Island (June) to its northern coast (July–September) and another from the central British Columbia coast (July) south to northern Vancouver Island (August–September). Two whales, including one of the two that had traveled from southern to northern Vancouver Island, moved from northern (June and July, respectively) to southern Vancouver Island (September). Four dwarf minke whales were attached with satellite tags off

Lizard Island Lizard Island, also known as Jiigurru or Dyiigurra, is an island on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia, northwest of Brisbane. It is part of the Lizard Island Group that also includes Palfrey Island, Queensland, Palfrey Island, and ...

, on the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

, in July 2013. All four followed the coastline south. Two stopped transmitting off southern Queensland, while the other two traveled west through the

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...

. The third soon stopped transmitting as well. The fourth ceased sending signals on 11 October, by which time it had reached 54°23'S, traveling some from its original tagging location.

Biology

Reproduction

Whale penis (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'') Common minke whales are sexually mature at about six to eight years of age for females and about six to seven years for males. Females are promiscuous. After a gestation period of 10 months, a single calf is born – only one out of 79 mature females during a study of minke whales off Iceland had twin fetuses, an female caught in July 2006 which had a male and a female. The calf is weaned after a period of six months. Peak conception is February in the North Atlantic, late February to mid-March for the "O stock", which migrates along the eastern coast of Japan to the Okhotsk Sea), and between October and November for the "J stock" (which occurs in the

, and

, and migrates to the southern Okhotsk Sea in the spring, where it mixes with the O stock. Peak calving is December in the North Atlantic, December to January in the North Pacific, and May to July for the J stock.Evans, Peter G. H. (1987). ''The Natural History of Whales and Dolphins''. Facts on File. The calving interval is only a year, so females are often simultaneously pregnant and lactating. Females reach physical maturity perhaps as early as 13 years of age; another study suggested that growth ceases for both sexes when they have 15 to 20 growth layers in their tympanic bullae, which may correspond to about 15 to 20 years of age. Both sexes can live to about 50 years of age – the oldest in a study of Icelandic minke whales were 42 years for females and 47 years for males, respectively.

Prey

Common minke whales have been described as ichthyophagous, but their diet also includes pelagic crustaceans and

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...

s and varies by region, season, and year.

North Atlantic

In the North Atlantic, they primarily eat small schooling fish,

demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They oc ...

, and

krill Krill ''(Euphausiids)'' (: krill) are small and exclusively marine crustaceans of the order (biology), order Euphausiacea, found in all of the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian language, Norwegian word ', meaning "small ...

. A 2007 study showed that off

they fed almost exclusively on members of the euphausiid genus Thysanoessa (mainly ''T. inermis''), but nearly a fifth also fed on small amounts of capelin. A small percentage of individuals, by decreasing frequency, also fed on

polar cod ''Boreogadus saida'', known as the polar cod or as the Arctic cod, is a fish of the cod Family (biology), family Gadidae, related to the true cod (genus ''Gadus''). Another fish species for which both the common names Arctic cod and polar cod a ...

Atlantic cod The Atlantic cod (: cod; ''Gadus morhua'') is a fish of the family Gadidae, widely consumed by humans. It is also commercially known as '' cod'' or ''codling''.haddock The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the Family (biology), family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the Monotypy, monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Oce ...

, and

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

s. Capelin dominated off Bear Island and in the southern

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...

, accounting for about three-quarters of their diet in both regions. Nearly half (nearly 46 per cent) also consumed euphausiids (''Thysanoessa spp.'') in the former area – haddock (12.5%), blue whiting (8.3%), polar cod, Atlantic cod,

Atlantic herring Atlantic herring (''Clupea harengus'') is a herring in the family Clupeidae. It is one of the most abundant fish species in the world. Atlantic herrings can be found on both sides of the northern Atlantic Ocean, congregating in large schools. ...

, and copepods constituted the rest. Herring and haddock were also taken in the southern Barents Sea (accounting for 41.5 and 28.7 per cent by frequency of occurrence, respectively), while sandeel ('' Ammodytes spp.''), Atlantic cod, copepods, euphausiids,

pollock Pollock or pollack (pronounced ) is the common name used for either of the two species of North Atlantic ocean, marine fish in the genus ''Pollachius''. ''Pollachius pollachius'' is referred to as "pollock" in North America, Ireland and the Unit ...

, and blue whiting made up the rest of the diet. In the Norwegian Sea, herring was found in all individuals sampled (n= 10), with some (20 per cent each) also feeding on a small amount of capelin and blue whiting – an earlier study, based on data primarily obtained between 1943 and 1945, showed that they fed exclusively on herring off Vesterålen, while the diet off

Lofoten Lofoten ( , ; ; ) is an archipelago and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches, and untouched lands. T ...

was more varied, including herring (34 per cent by occurrence), pelagic crustaceans (23%), Atlantic cod (22%), haddock (6%), and a mixture of

coalfish ''Pollachius virens'' is a species of marine fish in the genus '' Pollachius''. Together with '' P. pollachius'', it is generally referred to in the United States as pollock. It is commonly known in Britain as the coalfish, coley, or saithe ( or ...

and

flatfish A flatfish is a member of the Ray-finned fish, ray-finned demersal fish Order (biology), suborder Pleuronectoidei, also called the Heterosomata. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through or around ...

for one individual (1.5%). In the North Sea, they primarily fed on sandeel (62%) and Atlantic mackerel (nearly 30%), with some feeding on herring (16.2%), small amounts of Mueller's pearlside (10.8%), copepods, haddock, capelin, and whiting. They were found to feed almost exclusively on Atlantic mackerel in the northern North Sea, while the same was true for sandeel in the eastern North Sea. Off Iceland, they mainly fed on sandeel (nearly 58 per cent of sampled individuals), haddock (22.6%), herring (20%), capelin (19.4%), and Atlantic cod (14.7%), with the rest of the diet consisting of euphausiids, various larger species of gadoids, and Norway pout. Sandeel was more important in southern Iceland (constituting 78 per cent of sampled individuals), while capelin (35.1%), haddock (28.7%), and cod (22.3%) were more important in the north. Euphausiids were only consumed in the north. Although haddock was only a minor part of the diet the first couple years of the study (0 and 4% in 2003 and 2004, respectively), it subsequently constituted a major component of it (31-35% in 2005–2007), while sandeel's importance in the south declined considerably (95.2 to 77.7% from 2003 to 2006, but only 18.1% in 2007). Off southeastern

, they only fed on capelin, while sandeel dominated off southwestern Greenland. In a sample of 172 minke whales caught off Newfoundland between 1966 and 1972, the vast majority (85%) fed only on fish, mainly capelin. Some fed on a mixture of capelin and cod, while others had only consumed cod. Other gadoids, herring, krill, and squid formed the rest of the diet.

North Pacific

In the North Pacific, small schooling fish and krill are major food items. They feed exclusively on Pacific herring in the northern Okhotsk Sea and only on Alaska pollock east of

Sakhalin Island Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

. Japanese mackerel (found in 61 per cent of sampled stomachs) and

Pacific saury The Pacific saury (''Cololabis saira'') is species of fish in the family Scomberesocidae. Saury is a seafood in several East Asian cuisines and is also known by the name mackerel pike. Biology Saury is a fish with a small mouth, an elongat ...

(18%) are consumed east of the southern

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...

, with only the former species being found in whales sampled in September and the latter species likewise only being found in whales taken in October. Euphausiids make up nearly two-thirds of the diet (62%) around the western

, with unidentified fish (19%) constituting most of the rest. On the Okhotsk Sea side of

they mainly feed on euphausiids (55%), but also take

sardine Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it com ...

(24%) and sand lance (13%); on the Pacific side of Hokkaido, they feed almost exclusively on sardine (99%). In Sanriku, sardine makes up the bulk of the diet (54%), but euphausiids also play an important part (32%) – only a small percentage (9%) fed on sand lance. Euphausiids were a major food item on the Okhotsk Sea side of Hokkaido and off Sanriku in the spring (71, 72 and 62% from April–June in the former area, and 83% in April in the latter area), while sardine dominated the diet in the summer in both areas (71% in September for the former region, and 70, 92, and 93% from May–July in the latter region). More recent data from Japanese scientific catches in the western North Pacific shows Japanese anchovy to be a major component of the diet in two of the three sub-areas (60 per cent by weight in sub-area 7 and 37.4% in sub-area 8), while Pacific saury was the major food item in sub-area 9 (64.6%) and played an important part of the diet in sub-area 8 (36.4%). Euphausiids (9.2% in all areas combined), Alaska pollock (7.8% in sub-area 7), minimal armhook squid (4.9% in sub-area 9), and mackerel were also consumed.Tamura, T., Konishi, K., Isoda, T., and P. Okamoto. (2009). "Prey consumption and feeding habits of common minke, sei and Bryde's whales in the western North Pacific". ''NAMMCO/SC/16/MMFI/07''. They are thought to feed on juvenile herring and probably sand lance (''Ammodytes hexapterus'') around the

, while in the

region they have been observed feeding on baitfish – probably northern anchovy, which is abundant there.

Southern Hemisphere

In the Southern Ocean, dwarf minkes feed mainly on myctophid fishes. An immature female caught in the sub-Antarctic had euphausiids in its stomach, while two pregnant females from the same area had consumed fish and a mature male only had myctophids in its stomach. An immature male caught in a

gillnet Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is ...

off southern Brazil had a stomach almost filled with the euphausiid ''Euphausia similis''.

Predation

There have been numerous recorded instances of killer whales preying on or attacking common minke whales in places such as the

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

, Alaska, British Columbia, Washington State, California, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Greenland, and Svalbard. They are normally able to outpace pursuing killer whales in open water or are trapped in a bay, where they are rammed and drowned or strand and die – in one instance a minke whale was able to refloat itself on the rising tide and swim away. Chases usually last about 30 minutes to an hour and can reach speeds of up , often with both species porpoising out of the water in low-angle leaps. Typically two to four killer whales and a lone minke are involved. If the pursuing killer whales do catch up to the minke it does not defend itself, which is typical of the fast-moving members of its genus. On two occasions fleeing minkes sought shelter under a boat, once off Yakutat, Alaska, in 1977 and again in Glacier Bay, Alaska, in 1996 – in both instances they were attacked and killed. Killer whales typically only eat the tongue, skin, and some of the blubber of the minkes they kill.

Scavenging

Greenland sharks have been found scavenging the blubber thrown overboard during Norwegian minke whaling operations off

Great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocea ...

s and blue sharks have also been observed feeding on a minke whale carcass off

Whale falls

A new species of siboglinid

annelid The annelids (), also known as the segmented worms, are animals that comprise the phylum Annelida (; ). The phylum contains over 22,000 extant species, including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to vario ...

worm, '' Osedax mucofloris'', was discovered on the carcass of a 5.3 m (17.4 ft) female minke whale experimentally placed at a depth of 125 m (410 ft) in the

. This genus of worm uses

endosymbiotic An endosymbiont or endobiont is an organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism. Typically the two organisms are in a mutualistic relationship. Examples are nitrogen-fixing bacteria (called rhizobia), which live in the root ...

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

to feed on the bones of whales that fall to the seafloor.

Parasites and epibiotics

Common minke whales are a host to a number of internal and external parasites, as well as commensals, and other epibiotic fauna. Off Iceland, 45.2 per cent (85 of 188) of sampled minke whales bore old scars from attacks by the sea lamprey ''Petromyzon marinus'', while a further 10.6 per cent had fresh scars on the posterior part of their flanks; five were found with live lampreys still clinging to their flesh. The

''Caligus elongatus'' was found on 11.9 per cent of individuals, with a mean intensity (M. I.) of 95.5 per whale – the

monogenea Monogeneans, members of the class Monogenea, are a group of ectoparasitic flatworms commonly found on the skin, gills, or fins of fish. They have a direct lifecycle and do not require an intermediate host. Adults are hermaphrodites, meaning they ...

hyperparasite A hyperparasite, also known as a metaparasite, is a parasite whose host, often an insect, is also a parasite, often specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two ot ...

''Udonella caligorum'' was also found attached to 22 (6.6%) of a sub-sample of 332 ''C. elongatu''s. Another copepod, '' Pennella balaenopterae'', was found anchored into the flesh of 10.3 per cent of the whales (M. I. 1.6, with a maximum of five). The whale louse ''Cyamus balaenopterae'' was found on the skin of 6.5 per cent of the whales (M.I. 37), while the pseudo-stalked

barnacle Barnacles are arthropods of the subclass (taxonomy), subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacean, Crustacea. They are related to crabs and lobsters, with similar Nauplius (larva), nauplius larvae. Barnacles are exclusively marine invertebra ...

''Xenobalanus globicipitis'' was found on the flukes of three whales (M.I. 5.3). A single individual of the

goose barnacle Goose barnacles, also called percebes, turtle-claw barnacles, stalked barnacles, gooseneck barnacles, are filter-feeding crustaceans that live attached to hard surfaces of rocks and flotsam in the ocean intertidal zone. Goose barnacles form ...

'' Conchoderma auritum'' was found attached to a baleen plate that belonged to a male caught off the northwest coast in 2005, while four ''C. virgatum'' were found attached to a specimen of ''P. balaenopterae'' on a female caught off the north coast in 2003. In the St. Lawrence Estuary of eastern Canada, sea lampreys (''P. marinus'') were seen on 47 individually identified minke whales on over 100 occasions between 1999 and 2004. They were seen on the whales from June to October, with peak sightings in July and August. Between one and four lampreys were found per whale; the majority were attached below or behind the dorsal fin. On eighteen occasions, the same whale was seen multiple times with one or more lampreys attached to the same spot on its body from two to 87 days with an average of fifteen days. Twice whales were seen right after a lamprey had detached from them, revealing a bloody lesion that showed that the lampreys were feeding on their blood. On several occasions scrapes were seen on the whales from lampreys moving about their bodies probably "actively seeking areas of greater access to blood or decreased water flow". Among a sample of 100 minke whales caught in the western North Pacific in 1995, 78% had the copepod ''P. balaenopterae'' anchored into their skin and blubber – the goose barnacle ''C. virgatum'' was found attached to ''P. balaenopterae'' on three of the whales. The whale louse ''C. balaenopterae'' was found on the skin of four whales, while a single whale had the pseudo-stalked barnacle '' X. globicipitis'' attached to its skin. All individuals sampled were infected with the

nematode The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (h ...

Anisakis ''Anisakis'' ( ) is a genus of parasitic nematodes that have life cycles involving fish and marine mammals. They are infective to humans and cause #Anisakiasis, anisakiasis. People who produce immunoglobulin E in response to this parasite may su ...

simplex'' in their stomachs (sometimes their small intestine) and the acanthocephalan '' Bolbosoma nipponicum'' in their small intestine. Other internal parasites included the

cestodes Cestoda is a class of parasitic worms in the flatworm phylum (Platyhelminthes). Most of the species—and the best-known—are those in the subclass Eucestoda; they are ribbon-like worms as adults, commonly known as tapeworms. Their bodies con ...

'' Diphyllobothrium macroovatum'', ''Diplogonoporus balaenopterae'', and ''Tetrabothius sp.'', which infected the small intestine and were found in 17 per cent of the sample (all three species combined). In the eastern North Pacific, forty-three of forty-four individually identified minke whales possessed what were believed to be scars from

cookiecutter shark The cookiecutter shark (''Isistius brasiliensis''), also called the cigar shark, is a species of small squaliform shark in the family Dalatiidae. This shark lives in warm, oceanic waters worldwide, particularly near islands, and has been reco ...

s, while three had individuals of the commensal barnacle '' Xenobalanus globicipitis'' attached to their dorsal fins. Both are primarily warm water species and may be evidence of migration for minke whales from British Columbia to tropical waters. An immature male dwarf minke whale that stranded on the Banks Peninsula,

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

, New Zealand, had a stomach heavily infested with the nematode ''Anisakis'' and cysts of the cestode genus ''Phyllobothrium'' encased in the boundary between its blubber and muscle, while an immature male caught in a gillnet off southern Brazil had a stomach heavily infested with nematodes of the genera ''Pseudoterranova'' (about 97%) and ''Anisakis'' (about 3%).

Behavior

Group size

Common minke whales are normally seen singly. In the San Juan Islands, although up to six whales could be seen in a feeding area at once they usually acted independently, with no indications of cooperative feeding like that observed in their larger relatives the humpback and

. On occasion, two whales could be seen surfacing at the same time, within one or two body lengths of each other – such associations could last for only one surfacing to as long as about 90 minutes. Only once were three individuals seen together for a couple surfacings. In the Monterey Bay area, usually only one whale was visible at a time; on only four occasions were two whales seen swimming together. On several occasions in the

area pairs and trios were briefly seen surfacing together. Around the Isle of Mull, about 68 per cent of the sightings involved single whales, 26.5 per cent involved two or three whales, while only 5.4 per cent involved groups of four to ten. Off Western Greenland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and southern

Gulf of Maine The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northea ...

, almost all sightings involved single whales. Off Iceland, the majority of sightings (93%) were of lone whales, with only a minority of the encounters including pairs (4%) or trios (less than 3%). Cow-calf pairs were absent from most of these regions – a single cow-calf pair was seen off the Isle of Mull in 1992, while only three were seen in the southern Gulf of Maine (in May, August, and October). Of 89 sightings in the Okhotsk Sea and Northwest Pacific, 80 were of solitary whales, seven of pairs, and one each involved groups of four and five whales. Northern minke whales occasionally breach, sometimes completely clearing the water – one individual in the Johnstone Strait area reacted to the approach of foraging

s by breaching eight times in rapid succession. All of the dwarf minke whales caught off South Africa were taken singly. The majority of sightings of dwarf minke whales on the

involved either single whales (53.3%) or pairs (28.9%), with the maximum number of individuals in a group being eight. Four cow-calf pairs were seen as well. Individuals encountered on the various reef systems there often approached dive boats and circled them as well as the divers in the water. They were also seen breaching. Off Brazil, groups normally only consisted of one or two individuals, which actively avoided whale watching boats and fishing vessels. Here they were seen to associate with feeding flocks of seabirds, usually brown boobies but also

kelp gull The kelp gull (''Larus dominicanus''), also known as the Dominican gull, is a gull that breeds on coasts and islands through much of the Southern Hemisphere. The nominate ''L. d. dominicanus'' is the subspecies found around South America, pa ...

s and

tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genera in a subgroup of the family Laridae, which also ...

s on occasion.

Segregation

Common minke whales exhibit a great degree of spatial and temporal segregation by sex, age, and reproductive condition. Off Greenland, females dominate on the west coast (comprising 68% of individuals), while males predominate off the east coast (57%). On the west coast, the proportion of females in offshore waters increases with latitude, being lowest in the south (less than 40% from 60 to 63°N) and highest north of 70°N (over 90%). Females dominate during the spring and early summer (comprising nearly 79% of individuals from May to July), while the percentage of males increases from 38 to 45 per cent in the late summer (August to September). In coastal waters, the highest incidence of females occurs in the spring (about 85%), declines in the summer (72%), and rises again in the fall (over 75%). Over 70 per cent of the females in offshore waters are mature, nearly all of them pregnant (94.4%). Off Iceland, males dominate in most areas (particularly off the southwest coast, where they comprise 70% of individuals), while females form the slight majority (53%) on the east coast. Females dominate in the spring in most areas (61%), while males predominate in the summer (58%) and fall (66%).Hauksson, E., Víkingsson, G., and Sigurjónsson, J. (2013). "Geographic, temporal and size segregation of sexes of the common minke whale (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'') in Icelandic waters based on catch data from 1974 to 2009". ''Paper'' SC/F13/SP14 ''presented at the International Whaling Commission's Icelandic Special Meeting'', pp. 1-13. In the northeastern North Atlantic, females dominate around the Svalbard archipelago and in the Barents Sea (62.2 to 73.9%), while males predominate around the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

and off Norway (54.3 to 68.1%). Larger individuals of both sexes primarily occur further north (off Svalbard and in the Barents Sea), while smaller individuals mainly occur to the south (e.g. along the Norwegian coast from

south, in an area once known as a summering ground for newly weaned calves). In the Barents Sea, over 40 per cent of females are mature, with the vast majority being pregnant (94.4%). In the western North Pacific, larger animals are typically found in higher latitudes (e.g. in the Okhotsk Sea, south of the Kuril Islands, and around the

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

and western

), while smaller animals, especially females, dominate in lower latitudes (e.g. off Sanriku). The percentage of mature females is high in offshore areas (72.5 to 86.7%), with most of them being pregnant (85.7 to 100%). In coastal areas, however, most females are immature (60.4 to 94.2%) and fewer of the mature females are pregnant (40 to 58.4%). Females dominate in the northern Yellow Sea (90.9%) and off the east coast of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

(69.2%), while males predominate off the west coast of Honshu (72.6%) and off the southwest and west coasts of Hokkaido (90.5 and 59.7%). In the southern Okhotsk Sea, females arrive earlier than males (April and May, respectively), while mature females arrive earlier than immature ones.

Surfacing sequence

When a minke whale first comes to the surface to breathe its pointed rostrum is the first to break the surface. It either exhales beforehand or a narrow, diffuse blow or a low, bushy, diffuse blow is visible. It then arches its back in a quick motion, exaggerating this arch during its terminal deep dive. Often the blowholes and dorsal fin are visible at the same time. Depending on its behavior, it may exhale anywhere from one to seven times in rapid succession before going on a longer dive of several minutes duration. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, this depended on whether a whale was traveling, searching, or feeding. During traveling, when the whale was slower moving (generally in a straight line), it would exhale the greatest number of times (6.44 on average) and dive for a longer period of time (3.67 minutes on average) than when it was feeding, which was characterized by constant change in direction and vigorous swimming – this normally involved one or two respirations interspersed with three to seven (2.27 on average) followed by a relatively short dive (1.36 minutes on average). When a whale was searching, on the other hand (which involved the whale moving at a faster speed than traveling in a sort of zigzag motion), it would exhale 3.22 times on average and dive the longest of the three modes (3.76 minutes on average). In the Monterey Bay area, focal follows of minke whales showed that they respired an average of 3.74 times during a surfacing sequence. These short duration dives averaged 37.8 seconds and were followed by a long duration dive of an average of 4.43 minutes. In the San Juan Islands, the number of exhalations and the duration of dives depended on whether the whale was lunge feeding or feeding with birds. In the former method of feeding, whales made short dives – about 22 seconds long – up to seven times in rapid succession before making a long dive of about 3.8 minutes, while during the latter method they made longer short dives of about 65 seconds followed by shorter long dives of about 1.5 minutes.

Feeding techniques

In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, minke whales exhibit three types of behaviors: entrapment maneuvers, engulfment maneuvers, and entrapment/engulfment maneuvers. Entrapment maneuvers include circles, gyres, ellipses, figure-of-eights, and hyperbolas. ''Circles'' involve a whale, lying on its side with its ventral surface facing its intended prey, swimming in a circle 1.5 to 2.5 times its diameter and lunging mouth agape across the diameter of this circle. As the whale mounts the water column the movement of its flukes create a print or trace. ''Gyres'' are larger versions of circles that steadily decrease in diameter as the whale performs each circuit. ''Ellipses'' cover a greater area than the former two maneuvers as the whale swims a long and short axis – the former can be greater than at times. Ellipses can be maintained for long periods of time and may include feeding circles within them as well as a number of engulfing maneuvers. Unlike circles, surface traces are rarely apparent. ''Figure-of-eights'' are smaller versions of ellipses, with a long axis of less than six body lengths. The whale turns in opposite directions at each end of the long axis. ''Hyperbolas'' involve the whale turning at least once at the end of a short straight line run – this maneuver is sometimes performed alongside a rock face, followed by an inward facing feeding lunge. Engulfment maneuvers include plunges, oblique, lateral, vertical and ventral lunges. During ''plunges'' the whale approaches the water at an angle of less than 30° with its ventral surface facing downwards. Usually only the rostrum and part of the lower lip are visible above the surface of the water as it breaks the surface and often the tops of the extended ventral pleats. ''Oblique lunges'' are executed at a greater angle (about 45°) and entirely expose the extended ventral pleats; at times the entire body exits the water in a low, porpoising-like breach. During a ''lateral lunge'' the whale breaks the surface on its side, while during ''vertical'' and ''ventral lunges'' the whale exits the water at a 90° angle and while on its back, respectively. Entrapment/engulfment maneuvers include horizontal, lateral and ventral arcs. During a ''horizontal arc'' a whale turns sharply – on either side – with only a pectoral fin or occasionally a tip of the flukes breaking the surface of the water. ''Lateral'' and ''ventral arcs'' are similar to lateral and ventral lunges, but without any part of the whale breaking the surface of the water. All three of these maneuvers have been observed with both expanded and unexpanded ventral pleats. Plunges were used the most often (22% of the time), followed by ventral (19%), lateral (17%), and oblique lunges (15%). Vertical lunges were infrequently utilized (only 5% of the time), as were horizontal (7%), ventral (6%), and lateral arcs (3%). Novel feeding techniques were observed during a study of five individually identified minke whales (named M1 to M5) in the Saguenay Fjord National Park, on the north side of the St. Lawrence estuary, from June to October 2003. These maneuvers included head slaps, chip-up blows, and exhales on the dive. During a ''head slap'', the whale would raise its head high out of the water at angle of about 30 to 45°, take a quick breath, and then slam its head onto the water, creating a loud splash. It would do this without expanding its ventral pleats or forcing water out of its mouth. After doing several head slaps the whale would perform a feeding lunge. Head slaps were used almost exclusively by M4 and M5. A ''chin-up blow'' is similar to a normal surfacing but more energetic and executed at a greater angle as the whale comes high out of the water to breathe and dive again in one continuous motion without slapping the surface of the water. Chin-up blows were utilized often and performed by all five whales; it was the principal technique used by M1, M2, and M3 prior to a feeding lunge. An ''exhale on the dive'' is exactly what its name implies: a whale exhaling as its blowholes submerge. This resulted in a large volume of water being displaced and typically followed a normal blow or a chin-up blow and on occasion a head slap. This technique was only executed by M1 and M5. These new techniques are thought to have been developed by these whales to help them herd small schooling fish (likely capelin) in the well-mixed waters of the Saguenay Fjord; these tactics were not observed in the nearby Laurentian Channel Head, where "strong tidal currents, a stratified water column and bottom topography combine to create large areas of upwelling in which prey are forced to the surface". In July 2007, a minke whale with what appeared to be a rope injury was observed surface feeding on capelin in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The long, linear laceration extended around the ventral pleats, restricting their distention. This individual performed a number of oblique lunges on its right side and then rotated in mid-air to the left, landing upright on its rostrum. This was not observed in any of the other feeding whales. This may have been done to avoid landing on the injured portion of its ventral pleats.

Vocalizations

North Atlantic

In the North Atlantic, minke whales produce downsweeps and "pulse" or "thump trains". Downsweeps, which last 0.4 seconds in duration and sweep down from 100 to 200 Hz (median: 118 Hz) to below 90 Hz (median: 80 Hz) have been recorded in the St. Lawrence estuary of eastern Canada.Edds-Walton, P. L. (2000). "Vocalisations of minke whales ''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'' in the St. Lawrence estuary". ''Bioacoustics'' 11 (1): 31-50 (abstract only). Pulse trains have been recorded off

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and in

Massachusetts Bay Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of Massachusetts. Description The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its northern and sout ...

. Two types, "speed-up" and "slow-down", were recorded off Puerto Rico, while the same two calls as well as a "constant" call, were recorded in Massachusetts Bay. They differ in pulse rate, peak

frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio ...

, and duration. In the latter area, slow-down was the most commonly recorded type. Their peak frequencies ranged from 58 to 136 Hz and each pulse lasted from 0.07 to 0.12 seconds, together producing pulse trains of 12.4 to 39.8 seconds in duration. Detections of pulse trains peaked during August and September, with most calls being heard from mid-July to mid-November. None were recorded in January and February and few were detected from March to June. The pulse trains off Puerto Rico were recorded in March.Mellinger, D. K., Carson, C. D., and Clark, C. W. (2000). "Characteristics of minke whale (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'') pulse trains recorded near Puerto Rico". ''Marine Mammal Science'' 16 (4): 739-756 (abstract only).

North Pacific

In the North Pacific, what were called "boings" was first described in the mid-1960s from

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

recordings made off

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California, and

Kaneohe, Hawaii Kāneohe () is a census-designated place (CDP) included in the City and County of Honolulu and in Hawaii state District of Koolaupoko on the island of Oahu. In the Hawaiian language, ''kāne ohe'' means "bamboo man". According to an ancient ...

, in the 1950s. They consist of a brief pulse – called a ''precursor'' – with a duration of 0.28 seconds (range: 0.15 to 1.6 seconds) followed by a

and amplitude modulated long call – called the ''AM component'' – of 2.2 seconds duration (range: 1.4 to 4.2 seconds). Both had peak frequencies of 1.4

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...

with

harmonic In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st har ...

s of up to 9 kHz. These strange calls were recorded from October to May – peaking in March – and had a source level of about 150

decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whos ...

s with reference to one micropascal

metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

. Their source remained a mystery for decades. By the early 1980s they were thought to come from whales, but it wasn't known what species. In the early 2000s, it was suggested these sounds might originate from minke whales, based on their similarities to vocalizations produced by Southern Hemisphere forms. Finally, during a 2002 HICEAS () survey, the R/V ''David Starr Jordan'', using a towed

hydrophone A hydrophone () is a microphone designed for underwater use, for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones contains a piezoelectric transducer that generates an electric potential when subjected to a pressure change, such as a ...

array, detected boings off the northwestern Hawaiian Islands on 7 November 2002 and discovered they came from a minke whale, which they photographed and biopsied. Boings have been divided into two types: the ''central boing'' and the ''eastern boing''. The former has only been recorded west of 135°W, while the latter has only been recorded east of 138°W. They differ in pulse repetition rate and total duration. There may also be a "western boing" off Japan. Most boings have been recorded in the tropical and warm temperate North Pacific during the winter and spring, but some have also been detected in the northeastern Chukchi Sea in the summer and fall.

Southern Hemisphere

The "star wars" vocalization, a complex, stereotyped call consisting of three components ranging from 50 Hz to 9.4 kHz, is produced by the dwarf minke whale. It has a source level of 150 to 165 decibels at a reference pressure of one micropascal at one metre. This bizarre call, described as "almost synthetic, metallic, or mechanical", has been recorded during June and July on the northern Great Barrier Reef (about 14°30'S to 17°S), off

Stradbroke Island Stradbroke Island, also known as Minjerribah, was a large sand island that formed much of the eastern side of Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Queensland until the late 19th century. Today the island is split into two islands: North Stradbroke Is ...

, Queensland (27°30'S), and off

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour, locally nicknamed Coffs, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 a ...

, New South Wales ( 30°S). They also produce downswept calls of 250 to 50 Hz.

Whaling

North Atlantic

The first written records attest to the active hunting of minke whales off Norway by 1100 A.D. By 1240 they began utilizing iron darts fired from crossbows that had been treated with the tissue of dead sheep infected with the bacterium ''

Clostridium ''Clostridium'' is a genus of anaerobic, Gram-positive bacteria. Species of ''Clostridium'' inhabit soils and the intestinal tracts of animals, including humans. This genus includes several significant human pathogens, including the causative ...

''. Introducing this infectious agent to a wound weakened the whale and after a couple days the men would return and lance it to death. This method of whaling continued to be used until the 1880s.Chadwick, Douglas H. (2008). ''The grandest of lives: eye to eye with whales''. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint. Norwegian catching of minke whales from small fishing vessels started off Møre, western Norway, in the 1920s. It had spread north to Salten by 1932 and all along the Norwegian coast and to Bear Island,

, and the

by the late 1930s – the latter area, particularly the southeastern region east to Novaya Zemlya, was one of the most important whaling grounds, with over 2,400 whales being caught there in 1949. Licenses were introduced in 1938. A westward expansion to the waters north and east of Iceland occurred; by 1966 they had reached the Denmark Strait and western Greenland just two years later. At its peak over 300 vessels participated in the hunt each season, but this declined to about 50 in the 1980s. By the end of the Second World War the catch was at nearly 2,000 per annum, peaked at 4,338 in 1958, and declined to 2,307 by 1970. Over 125,000 have been caught by Norwegian commercial whaling since 1938. In accordance with the moratorium against commercial whaling voted on by the

International Whaling Commission The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation ...

in 1982 and taking effect in 1986, commercial catches ceased in 1987 (albeit only temporarily). From 1988 to 1990 and again from 1992 to 1994 Norway caught minke whales under scientific permit and resumed commercial whaling of the species in 1993. They typically catch 450 to 600 individuals a year, with 464 being taken in 2012. Minke whales were first caught off Iceland in 1914 by the powered 4-ton fishing vessel ''Margrét IS 314'', which was mounted with a 1.5 inch bore harpoon gun – this was replaced in 1923 with a 2-inch bore harpoon gun manufactured in Norway. Later other vessels joined the trade. Operations were limited to coastal waters, normally within 30 nautical miles of shore. The season extended from the beginning of March to late November, even to early December at times; though most were caught between April and October. They were mainly caught for their meat, with a minimum of 3,362 being taken between 1914 and 1980. Catch limits were introduced in 1977. The average annual catch rose from 105 from 1966 to 1970, to 137 from 1971 to 1975, and finally to 200 from 1976 to 1980. The last were caught in 1985 before whaling resumed in 2003 under scientific permit, with 200 being taken from 2003 to 2007. Commercial whaling for minkes was renewed in 2006, with a total catch of 296 between 2006 and 2012. A Newfoundland whaling company began catching "little piked whales" (minke whales) off northeastern Newfoundland in 1947, taking 16 in its first year and 41 in 1948. A total of 812 minke whales were caught off Newfoundland between 1947 and 1972, with a peak of 97 in 1972. They were captured by one to three wood-hulled vessels that had a 50 mm harpoon cannon mounted on their bows. Whales were towed to a shore station for flensing. They were first caught in Conception, Bonavista, and Trinity bays, but later catches (1966 to 1972) were mainly made in Trinity Bay itself. The season extended from May to September (rarely October), with peak catches being made in June and July. A small number – 51 between 1962 and 1967 – were also caught off

, with the season lasting from June to August. Minke whales were first exploited by Greenlanders off western Greenland in 1948, when a fishing vessel mounted with a harpoon cannon began catching them. This vessel averaged 18 whales per annum (range four to 32), before being joined by three other vessels in 1958. The number of vessels participating in the hunt each year increased rapidly, rising from 18 in 1963, to 25 in 1964, and to 45 in 1965. The peak was reached in 1968 and 1969, with 56 vessels active in both years. From 1970 to 1976 the average fluctuated between about 30 and 45 vessels. A total of 3,434 minke whales were taken off western Greenland between 1948 and 1976, with a peak of 315 reached in 1968. The vast majority of these whales were taken by fishing vessels normally targeting cod,

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

, or

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

, but an increasing number in later years were caught using a number of small boats with out-board motors, armed with high-powered rifles for killing the whale and hand-held harpoons and floating bladders to secure them; walkie-talkies were used for coordination. Usage of this method, called a "collective catch", increased from a catch of just one whale in 1970 to 59 in 1975. In southwest Greenland (south of 66°15'N), the season lasts from April to November, with peaks in May and October. Occasionally a few whales are caught in the winter. On the central west coast (

Disko Bay Disko Bay (; Christensen, N.O. & al.Elections in Greenland". ''Arctic Circular'', Vol. 4 (1951), pp. 83–85. Op. cit. "Northern News". ''Arctic'', Vol. 5, No. 1 (Mar 1952), pp. 58–59.) is a large bay on the western coast of Greenland. ...

and adjacent areas from 66°15'N to 70°45'N), the season begins in late May and peaks in July, August or September. In some years, mild ice-less winters also allow catching in this region from November to April. In the northwest (mainly the Umanak district, 70°45'N to 73- 74°N), the season doesn't begin until June because of sea ice, with peak catches occurring from July to September. A few are also caught in October and November. Minke whales were caught for their meat, with it mainly being used locally for human consumption and dog food, though in Umanak the

Royal Greenland Trading Department The Royal Greenland Trading Department (, KGH) was a Danish state enterprise charged with administering the realm's settlements and trade in Greenland. The company managed the government of Greenland from 1774 to 1908 through its Board of Manag ...

purchased some of the products of the hunt beginning in the late 1960s. An additional 4,307 minke whales were caught off Greenland between 1985 and 2012, 4,070 off western Greenland and a paltry 237 off eastern Greenland. The average annual catch during this period has usually been between 150 and 190 whales. A total of 97 were caught off the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

between 1960 and 1971, with a peak of 32 in 1968. One was also taken off Portugal in 1951.

North Pacific

There is no evidence minke whales were caught in Japan during the harpoon and net whaling eras. The small-type catcher boat ''Yuko-maru 7'' GRT caught the first minkes out of Akukawa in 1930. In the first half of the 1930s, about 20-30 was taken per year out of this port. Minke whaling soon spread to the port of Kamaishi (1938), on the northeast coast of

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

; Ogawajima (about 1951), on the west coast of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

; and to Wakasa Bay and

Aomori , officially Aomori City (, ), is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 264,945 in 136,781 households, and a population density of 321 people per squa ...

(both by 1957), the former on the west coast and the latter on the north coast of Honshu. An average of 23 catcher boats – each of which averaged about 23 tons between 1952 and 1986 – were involved each year between 1950 and 1986, from a peak of 80 in 1950 to a low of seven from 1973 to 1978 – these boats also caught other species, mainly giant beaked whales,

short-finned pilot whale The short-finned pilot whale (''Globicephala macrorhynchus'') is one of the two species of cetaceans in the genus ''Pilot whale, Globicephala'', which it shares with the long-finned pilot whale (''G. melas''). It is part of the oceanic dolphin ...

s, and

s. As the number of boats declined the average tonnage increased dramatically, from 14.6 in 1952 to 39 in 1982. In 1979, nine catchers averaged about 360 horsepower – they ranged from 15.2 tons and 150 horsepower for the tiny ''Katsu Maru'' (1978–1986) to the 36.99-ton ''Koei Maru No. 7'' at 450 horsepower. The largest was the 47.77-ton ''Sumitomo Maru No. 31'', which operated from 1982 to 1986. These vessels used harpoon guns of 50 mm caliber or less. Because of their small size, limited cruising range, and inability to work during inclement weather, catchers were restricted to within 50 nautical miles of their home port in the 1950s, while the vast majority operated within 80 nautical miles of their home ports or designated unloading ports (for Hokkaido) during the period 1977 to 1987. In 1968 small motorboats were introduced, which scared the whales into swimming quickly at the surface, making them easier to track and exhausting them in the process – this allowed them to be more easily killed as well. The earliest were long and 2 tons with 65-80 horsepower outboard engines; later boats with 165 horsepower were utilized. The number of catchers using motorboats increased rapidly from 1968 to 1972; by 1979 they all used them. Several hundred minkes were caught each year, with the peak being reached in 1956, when 532 were taken. A total of 13,334 were taken by Japanese coastal whaling between 1948 and 1987. Most were caught off Sanriku and on the Okhotsk Sea side of

, with the Pacific side of Hokkaido gaining some importance by the early 1970s. They were seldom caught off the west coast of Honshu (off Tottori, in Tsuruga Bay, and Toyama Bay), which was abandoned by the mid-1970s. Few were taken on the

side of Hokkaido as well. They were formerly captured off western Kyushu and the south coasts of Honshu and

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

, but catching in those regions ceased by 1965 due to the scarcity of whales. The first minkes of the season were caught off western Kyushu and the Sea of Japan side of Honshu, where peak catches occurred from March to May and March to April, respectively; from there effort shifted to the Okhotsk Sea side of Hokkaido and Sanriku, where catches peaked in May for the former area and from April to May in the latter area. Effort was finally diverted to the Pacific side of Hokkaido, where peak catches were made from July to September. The season as a whole extended from February to October. In 1973 a duel factory-catcher boat was built, the ''Miwa Maru'', which caught 279 minke whales from 1973 to 1975, mainly in the Okhotsk Sea. Japanese pelagic fleets also caught six in the

, four in 1964 and two in 1971; an additional 22 were taken by pelagic fleets in the western North Pacific and western

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

in 1969, 1970, and 1976 – the last, a immature female taken at , was a special permit catch. Commercial catches ended in 1987. In 1994, Japan began catching minke whales in the western North Pacific under scientific permit. Under the title of JARPN (Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the North Pacific), up to 100 whales were caught each year by a pelagic fleet consisting of the 7,198 to 7,575 gross ton factory ship '' Nisshin Maru'' and two to three sighting/sampling vessels – including ''Toshi Maru No. 25'' (739.92 gross tons, 1994–1999), ''Toshi Maru No. 18'' (758.33 gross tons, 1994–1998), ''Kyo Maru No. 1'' (812.08 gross tons, 1995–1999), and ''Yushin Maru'' (720 gross tons, 1999) – until 1999. A total of 498 minke whales were caught.Fujise, Y., Kishiro, T., Zenitani, R., Matsuoka, K., Kawasaki, M., and Shimamoto, K. (1995). "Cruise report of the Japanese whale research program under a special permit for North Pacific minke whales in 1994". ''Paper'' SC/47/NP3 ''presented to the IWC Scientific Committee''.Fujise, Y., Iwasaki, T., Zenitani, R., Araki, J., Matsuoka, K., Tamura, T., Aono, S., Yoshida, T., Hidaka, H., Nibe, T., and Tohyama, D. (1996). "Cruise report of the Japanese Whale Research Program under a Special Permit for North Pacific minke whales in 1995 with the results of a preliminary analysis of data collected". ''Paper'' SC/48/Np13 ''presented to the IWC Scientific Committee''.Fujise, Y., Shimada, H., Zenitani, R., Goto, M., Tamura, T., Lindstrom, U., Uchida, A., Yoshida, H., Shimamoto, K., Yuzu, S., Kasai, H., Kinoshita, T., Iwata, T., and Toyama, D. (1997). "Cruise report of the Japanese Whale Research Program under a Special Permit in the North Pacific (JARPN) in 1996 with some preliminary analysis of data collected during the 1994–1996 JARPN surveys". ''Paper'' SC/49/NP8 ''presented to the IWC Scientific Committee''.Ishikawa, H., Yuzu, S., Shimamoto, K., Bando, T., Ohshima, K., Kasai, H., Kinoshita, T., Mizushima, Y., Iwakami, H., Nibe, T., Hosoyama, T., Kuramochi, T., Numano, K., and Miyamoto, M. (1997). "Cruise report of the Japanese Whale Research Program under a Special Permit in the North Pacific (JARPN) in 1997". ''Paper'' SC/49/NP9 ''presented to the IWC Scientific Committee''.Zenitani, R., Fujise, Y., Matsuoka, K., Tamura, T., Bando, T., Ichihashi, H., Shimokawa, T., Krasnenko, A. S., Taguchi, F., Kinoshita, T., Mori, M., Watanabe, M., Ichinomiya, D., Nakamura, M., Sakai, K., Matsuzaka, K., Kamei, H., and Tohyama, D. (1999). "Cruise report of the Japanese Whale Research Program under a special permit in the North pacific in 1998". ''Paper'' SC/51/RMP7 ''presented to the IWC Scientific Committee''.Fujise, Y., Zenitani, R., Tamura, T., Bando, T., Ohtani, S., Takeda, S., Kitajima, A., Kimura, T., Masaki, T., and Tohyama, D. (2000). "Cruise report of the Japanese Whale Research Program under special permit in the North Pacific (JARPN) in 1999". ''Paper'' SC/F2K/J9 ''presented to the JARPN review meeting''. After a two-year feasibility study,Fujise, Y., Pastene, L. A., Tamura, T., Bando, T., Murase, H., Kawahara, S., Watanabe, H., Ohizumi, H., Mogoe, T., Kiwada, H., Nemoto, K., and Narita, H. (2001). "Progress Report of the Feasibility study of the Japanese whale research program under special permit in the western North Pacific – Phase II (JARPN II) in 2000". ''Paper'' SC/53/O10 ''presented to the IWC Scientific Committee''.Fujise, Y., Tamura, T., Bando, T., Watanabe, H., Kiwada, H., Otani, S., Kanda, N., Yasunaga, G., Mogoe, T., Konishi, K., Inamori, M., Shigemune, H., and Tohyama, D. (2002). "Cruise report of the feasibility study of the Japanese whales research program under special permit in the western North Pacific-phase II (JARPN II) in 2001". ''Paper'' SC/54/O16 ''presented to the IWC Scientific Committee''. JARPN II began in 2002,Fujise, Y., Tamura, T., Bando, T., Yasunaga, G., Konishi, K., Murase, H., Yoshida, T., Itoh, S., Ogawa, R., Sasaki, T., Fukutome, K., Isoda, T., Birukawa, N., Horji, N., Zharikov, K. A., Park, K. J., Tohyama, D., and Kawahara, S. (2003). "Cruise Report of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the western North Pacific – Phase II (JARPN II) in 2002 (part I) – Offshore component". ''Document'' SC/55/O7 ''submitted to the IWC Scientific Committee''. also taking up to 100 whales per year with a pelagic fleet consisting mainly of the same vessels – ''Nisshin Maru'' was enlarged to 8,030 gross tons in 2006Tamura, T., Matsuoka, K., Bando, T., Mogoe, T., Konishi, K., Mori, M., Tsunekawa, M., Okamoto, K., Funasaka, N., Sakajiri, H., Yoshida, Y., Kumagai, S., Kimura, K., Takamatsu, T., Konagai, T., Sasaki, S., Kuwaoka, J., and Ogawa, T. (2007). "Cruise Report of the second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Western North Pacific (JARPN II) in 2006 (part I) – Offshore component". ''Document'' SC/59/05 ''submitted to the IWC Scientific Committee''. and '' Yūshin Maru No. 2'' (747 gross tons) and '' Yūshin Maru No. 3'' (742 gross tons) replaced ''Toshi Maru No. 25'' and ''Kyo Maru No. 1'' in 2003Tamura, T., Fujise, Y., Bando, T., Yasunaga, G., Konishi, K., Kiwada, H., Isoda, T., Itoh, S., Machida, S., Tsunekawa, M., Konagai, T., Takamatsu, T., Ohshima, T., Honjo, K., Matsuoka, T., Zharikov, K. A., An, Y. R., Tohyama, D., and Kawahara, S. (2004). "Cruise Report of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the western North Pacific – Phase II (JARPN II) in 2003 (part I) – Offshore component". ''Document'' SC/56/O13 ''submitted to the IWC Scientific Committee''. and 2008,Tamura, T., Otani, S., Isoda, T., Wada, A., Yonezaki, S., Mori, M., Tsunekawa, M., Fukutome, K., Nakai, K., Satoh, H., Nomura, I., Nagatsuka, S., Umatani, M., Koyanagi, T., Takamatsu, T., Kawabe, S., Kandabashi, S., Watanabe, H., Kumagai, S., Sato, H., and Ogawa, T. (2009). "Cruise Report of the second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Western North Pacific (JARPN II) in 2008 (part I) – Offshore component". ''Paper'' SC/61/O4 ''submitted to the IWC Scientific Committee''. respectively – but expanding its operations to include a coastal component using three to four small-type sampling vessels – mainly ''Taisho Maru No. 28'' (47.31 gross tons, 2002–2012), ''Sumitomo Maru No. 31'' (32 gross tons, 2002–2010), ''Katsu Maru No. 7'' (32 gross tons, 2002–2012), and ''Koei Maru No. 75'' (46 gross tons, 2003–2010) – with a total of up to 120 individuals being caught off Sanriku in the spring and off

Kushiro is a city in Kushiro Subprefecture on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. Located along the coast of the North Pacific Ocean, it serves as the subprefecture's capital and it is the most populated city in the eastern part of the island. History An ...

, on the Pacific side of Hokkaido, in the fall.Yasunaga, G., Itoh, N., Wada, A., Kiwada, H., Sato, H., Maeda, H., Nakamura, G., Inoue, S., Miyakawa, N., Kitayama, K., Ishikawa, Y., Suzuki, N., Tsutsumi, T., Kadowaki, I., and Kato, H. (2012). "Cruise Report of the second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under special permit in the western North Pacific (JARPN II) in 2011 – (Part II) – Coastal component off Kushiro, spring survey". ''Paper'' SC/64/O4 ''submitted to the IWC Scientific Committee''.Yoshida, H., Ito, N., Kishiro, T., Miyashita, T., Yasunaga, G., Hara, T., Nakamura, G., Maeda, H., Inoue, S., Tsutsumi, T., Ishida, K., Tamai, N., Kadowaki, I., Oka, S., Takahashi, M., Fukumoto, A., Kumagai, S., Sato, H., Sakamoto, N., Kitayama, K., Kobayashi, N., and Kato, H. (2013). "Cruise report of the second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the western North Pacific (JARPN II) in 2012 (Part III) – Coastal component off Kushiro". ''Paper'' SC/65a/O06 ''submitted to the IWC Scientific Committee''. This research program continues to the present.Bando, T., Mogoe, T., Isoda, T., Wada, A., Mori, M., Tsunekawa, M., Tamahashi, K., Moriyama, R., Miyakawa, N., Kadowaki, I., Watanabe, H., and Ogawa, T. (2013). "Cruise Report of the second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the western North Pacific (JARPN II) in 2012 (part I) – Offshore component". ''Document'' SC/65a/O03 ''submitted to the IWC Scientific Committee''. Whaling for minke whales off Korea began in the early 1930s, when they were opportunistically caught by vessels targeting larger species. The number of boats used per year ranged from 13 (1967–68, 1983–84) to 24 (1965), with 21 per annum between 1975 and 1982. Their average tonnage and horsepower increased from 56 (1971) to 74.5 tons (1982) and from about 220 (1971) to nearly 539 horsepower (1982). In 1982, they ranged from the diminutive ''Gu Pok'', only 18.3 tons and a mere 45 horsepower, to ''Tae Won'' and ''Jin Yang 5'' – each nearly 99 tons – and ''Chung Gu 1'', ''Chung Gu 2'' and ''U Seung 3'', all three with 1,000 horsepower. Minkes were permitted to be landed for flensing at the main whaling stations of

Ulsan Ulsan (; ), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighbo ...

, on the east coast, and Ucheango, on the west coast, as well as Jukbyeon, Kuryongpo, Heusando, Daichangdo, and Cheju. By the early 1960s a few hundred were being caught each year. The catch increased from 715 in 1970, to 882 in 1973, to a peak of 1,033 and 1,018 in 1977 and 1978. Minkes were caught almost year-round (February to December), with the most important whaling ground being the central

from March to April. From there, catches extended to the Korean Strait in May and the southwestern Sea of Japan from June to October. Most were caught from April to June, with a peak in the Yellow Sea in April and in the Sea of Japan in June. They were also caught in the northern Yellow Sea and off the east coast of

(before 1936), where peak catches were reached from May to June and from April to June, respectively. About 16,000 were caught between 1940 and 1986, when hunting of minke whales ceased. A small number of minke whales were caught by the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

in the western North Pacific, with 21 being taken by pelagic fleets between 1933 and 1979 and an additional 94 being caught by catchers operating out of the Kuril Island land stations – the annual catch in the latter region never exceeded nine or ten whales (1951, 1954, and 1956). One was caught off British Columbia and taken to the whaling station at Coal Harbour, on the west coast of

, in 1967.Nicol, L. M., E. J. Gregr, R. Flinn, J. K. B. Ford, R. Gurney, L. Michaluk and A. Peacock. (2002). "British Columbia commercial whaling catch data 1908 to 1967: A detailed description of the B.C. historical whaling database". ''Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences'' No. 2396. viii +76 pp.

Southern Hemisphere

Few dwarf minke whales have been reported taken by whaling operations. Thirteen were caught off

, South Africa, between 1970 and 1973. Nearly all of them (12 of 13, or 92%) were taken in the first half of the season (April to June), over three-quarters within 30 nautical miles of shore. Of 902 minke whales caught off northeastern Brazil in 1980, only three were dwarf. Of 1,789 minke whales caught in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

by the Japanese between 1987–88 and 1992–93, only 16 were dwarf minkes (one was caught in 1987–88, five in 1988–89, three in 1989–90, four in 1990–91, and three in 1992–93).Nishiwaki, S., Ishikawa, H. and Fujise, Y. (2005). "Review of the general methodology and survey procedure under JARPA". ''Paper'' JA/J05/JR2 ''presented at the pre-JARPA review meeting'', ''Tokyo'', January 2005. These were taken from December to March between the latitudes of 55°22'S and 65°04'S and the longitudes of 111°26'E and 178°12'E. An additional 180 minke whales (47 males, 133 females) which had flippers with a "clear white band" were taken by Japanese expeditions in the sub-Antarctic between 1972–73 and 1976–77, with a peak of 69 in 1975–76.

Other mortality

Minke whales are occasionally caught in fishing gear of various types, including set nets, fish pots, gillnets, trap nets, trawls, longlines, and seines. Entanglements have been reported off Korea,An, Y. R., Choi, S. G., & Moon, D. Y. (2010). "A review on the status of bycatch minke whales in Korean waters". ''IWC Scientific Committee'' (SC/62/NPM19). ''Available from the IWC''. Japan, Canada,Perkins, J. S., and Beamish, P. C. (1979). "Net entanglements of baleen whales in the inshore fishery of Newfoundland". ''Journal of the Fisheries Board of Canada'' 36 (5): 521-528 (abstract only). the United States, the Azores, Scotland,Northridge, S., Cargill, A., Coram, A., Mandleberg, L., Calderan, S., and Reid, R. (2010). "Entanglement of minke whales in Scottish waters: an investigation into occurrence, causes and mitigation". ''Contract Report''. ''Final Report to Scottish Government'' CR/2007/49. Portugal, France,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, the Canary Islands, Senegal, and Brazil. A total of 1,156 minke whales were caught off Korea between 1996 and 2008, an average of about 88 per year. They were mainly caught with set nets (31.4%), fish pots (27.3%), and gillnets (26.2%). Most were juveniles. Of 17 individuals that were reported caught in trap nets off eastern Honshu between 1978 and 1990, only two escaped alive, the rest being sold for their meat. Ship strikes are another source of mortality. They have been reported off the east coast of the United States, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and off Italy. A dwarf minke whale calf that stranded in New South Wales had one of its flukes cut by a propeller, which was the likely reason for its stranding and ensuing death. In April 2007, a juvenile female minke whale died from

domoic acid Domoic acid (DA) is a kainic acid-type neurotoxin that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP). It is produced by algae and accumulates in shellfish, sardines, and anchovies. When sea lions, otters, cetaceans, humans, and other predators eat cont ...

poisoning by ingesting northern anchovies – a known domoic acid vector – during an intense '' Pseudo-nitzschia'' bloom off

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. In March 2013, a severely emaciated juvenile male stranded at

Nieuwpoort, Belgium Nieuwpoort ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in Flemish Region, Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, in the province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town o ...

. It was believed to have died after a prolonged starvation due to compacted plastic debris obstructing its digestive tract – the first confirmed case of death due to the ingestion of litter in a baleen whale.Jauniaux, T.; Haelters, J.; Degraer, S.; Coignoul, F. (2014). "Fatal plastic impaction in a minke whale (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'')." In: ''Abstract book of the 28th Annual Conference of the European Cetacean Society: Marine mammals as sentinels of a changing environment'', Liège, Belgium, 5–9 April 2014. pp. 168. In May 2014, a individual that stranded at

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

, tested positive for

morbillivirus ''Morbillivirus'' is a genus of viruses in the order '' Mononegavirales'', in the family ''Paramyxoviridae''. Humans, dogs, cats, cattle, seals, and cetaceans serve as natural hosts. This genus contains 10 species, one of which is extinct. Disea ...

. Minke whale strandings on the Atlantic coast of the United States, from Maine to South Carolina, have increased in frequency since January 2017. These strandings have been declared a
Unusual Mortality Event (UME)
under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Full or partial necropsies have been conducted on over 60% of the minke whales stranded on the Atlantic coast since January 2017. Though human interactions and infectious disease were indicated by many of the necropsies, findings have been inconsistent and the cause of the strandings is not fully understood.

Captivity

Several minke whales have been briefly held in captive settings in Japan. All were kept at the Mito Aquarium, in the suburbs of Numazu, Shizuoka, in a square pool netted off from the sea. The first was exhibited for nearly three months in the mid-1930s, but accepted food only during the latter half of its stay. The second was a weeks-old calf that lasted only two weeks in May 1954 before dying. The last was an estimated individual of undetermined sex that had been caught in a fixed net near the aquarium on 26 November 1955 and transported there the same day. It refused the

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

given to it – though it may have fed on a school of

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

s kept in the pool with it – and simply swam in a counter clockwise circle for 37 days before breaking through the nets on the morning of 2 January 1956, not long after three

bottlenose dolphin The bottlenose dolphin is a toothed whale in the genus ''Tursiops''. They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus contains three species: the common bot ...

s had been introduced to the same pool.

Conservation status

The common minke whale is considered "Least Concern" on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

. In addition, the species is covered by the Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region ( Pacific Cetaceans MOU) and the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area ( ACCOBAMS).

Gallery

Whale eyeball.jpg, Whale

eyeball An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system. In higher organisms, the eye ...

(''Balaenoptera acutorostrata''). Whale Trachea.jpg, Whale Trachea and Larynx (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata''). Whale Tongue.jpg, Whale

Tongue The tongue is a Muscle, muscular organ (anatomy), organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for chewing and swallowing as part of the digestive system, digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper s ...

(''Balaenoptera acutorostrata''). Whale lung.jpg, Whale

lung The lungs are the primary Organ (biology), organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the Vertebral column, backbone on either side of the heart. Their ...

(''Balaenoptera acutorostrata''). Whale kidney.jpg, Whale

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

(''Balaenoptera acutorostrata''). Whale artery (cut).jpg, Whale

artery An artery () is a blood vessel in humans and most other animals that takes oxygenated blood away from the heart in the systemic circulation to one or more parts of the body. Exceptions that carry deoxygenated blood are the pulmonary arteries in ...

(cut) (''Balaenoptera acutorostrata'').

Notes

References

External links

Smithsonian Institution – North American Mammals: ''Balaenoptera acutorostrata''

Official website of the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area
* {{Authority control Mammals described in 1804 Cetaceans of the Arctic Ocean Articles containing video clips Minke whale Balaenoptera Cetaceans of Europe Cetaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Cetaceans of the Pacific Ocean Extant Pliocene first appearances Mammals of Greenland Taxa named by Bernard Germain de Lacépède

Vernacular names

Taxonomy

History

Divergence

Hybrids

Description

Size

Appearance

Northern form

Dwarf form

Distribution

Range

Population

North Atlantic

North Pacific

Southern Hemisphere

Occurrence

Site fidelity

Migration and movements

Biology

Reproduction

Prey

North Atlantic

North Pacific

Southern Hemisphere

Predation

Scavenging

Whale falls

Parasites and epibiotics

Behavior

Group size

Segregation

Surfacing sequence

Feeding techniques

Vocalizations

North Atlantic

North Pacific

Southern Hemisphere

Whaling

North Atlantic

North Pacific

Southern Hemisphere

Other mortality

Captivity

Conservation status

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

External links