Omura's whale

The Omurawal (Balaenoptera omurai ) is a first described in November 2003 Type of rorqual ( Balaenopteridae ) belonging to the baleen whales ( Mysticeti ). The type specimens of the species were caught in the late 1970s in the Sea of ​​Japan (type locality), in the Salomonensee and near the Cocos Islands.

According to the describer Shiro Wada (和田 志 郎), Masayuki Ōishi (大石 雅 之) and Tadasu K. Yamada (山田 格) from Japan is one of the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus ) very similar style, but with a length of around is twelve meters significantly smaller than this. They also have much less than other baleen whales with only 200 Barten. Over the life of the animals is not known.

The publication of the species description in the journal Nature on 20 November 2003 initially met with massive doubt in the professional world. The researchers demonstrated their description on the basis of mitochondrial DNA comparisons with other whales, where they turned out the need for further analyzes. As a basis they were nine individuals, eight of whom were caught in the late 1970s.

The scientific name is derived from the Japanese whale researcher Hideo Omura (大村 秀雄).