Balaenoptera

Blauwalmutter with calf

The genus Balaenoptera provides in addition to the mono typical genus Megaptera, the ( Megaptera novaeangliae ), only the humpback whale belongs, represents the second genus within the rorqual ( Balaenopteridae )

Features

Characteristic of the rorqual are the 50 to 90 Ventralfurchen that stretch at the bottom of the animals from the mouth to the navel and allow the expansion of the mouth with food intake. They also have in comparison to the right whales dorsal fin and a significantly shorter and wider Barten. Compared with the humpback whale, the much smaller pectoral fins fall on ( Flipper ). With the blue whale and the fin whale, this genus contains the largest living animal species at all.

System

The genus Balaenoptera contains eight species, which can be divided into three types of groups:

• Minke whale group Minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata )
• Southern Minke Whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis )

• Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus )
• Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
• Omurawal (Balaenoptera omurai )

• Bryde's whale (Balaenoptera brydei )
• Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis)
• Edenwal (Balaenoptera edeni )