The impressive size and power the largest whales surprising and makes experiencing the awe of nature. Hard to believe, what’s next in the world live is so strong and large creatures. Meet the blue whale is unforgettable.
These huge priceless-a-kind animals -the pride of our planet.
The blue whale belongs to the order Cetacea, the genus of Whales. It is the largest mammals on earth. They’re not like fish, breathe with gills, not spawn. Their children are born and generated are fed mother’s milk.
The body of a large whale in the world is slender and elongated, dark gray color with a rich blue shade and marble or light gray pattern. Big head is about 27% of the body, in profile. Snout sharp. Broad lower jaw is curved to the sides, from all sides covers the top. The corner of mouth bent down. Located right over her little eyes. On the face of the giant a small number of hairs to touch.
The characteristic sizes of the body and internal organs:
- length – 30 to 34 m;
- weight -170-190тонн;
- liver – 1 ton;
- heart-700 kg;
- language – 3-4 tons;
- lung capacity -3000-5000 l;
- blood -8-10 thousand liters;
- throat diameter-10cm;
- square jaws -25m.kV.
Like all baleen whales, the blowhole is formed by the two nostrils. It is in the back of the head has the form of two converging front end, narrow holes. In front of the blowhole is a longitudinal keeled ridge, called “the breakwater”.
Gasping, the blue whale produces a fountain of water in the form of a column up or an expanding cone with a height of up to 10 meters.
This giant dorsal fin small, triangular, pointed shape. He shifted far back. For different species it is different. Some barely noticeable, others more developed and has a sickle-shaped back cutout. The edge of the fin is covered with scratches, forming an individual pattern.
The pectoral fins have a blue whale is narrow and elongated, and the tail is long, reaches a width of 7.6 m. Inside his mouth there are several pairs of plates of whalebone, which consists of keratin. The length of the plates is from 90 C up to 1 meter, a width of about 50-53 with M.
Subspecies
To date, the majority of sources indicate the existence of three subspecies of whales :
- The South is the most numerous subspecies, which is the main part of blyalov. Differs from the typical form of the whiter large size. But in General, it is difficult to distinguish from the Northern blue counterpart.
- Typical Northern subspecies was first described in 1758 by Carl Lineham, and therefore called the model.
- The pygmy whale is sometimes called the pygmy. This population opened in the Indian ocean in 1959, the Average body length of this species is less than three meters. Color the more light, the length of caudal peduncle smaller, and the plates of baleen are shorter. He has a teardrop-shaped body, thicker than the Northern subspecies.
Food
The big blue whale, despite its impressive dimensions, cannot be called a predator. He has absolutely no teeth. The animals that he uses in size is less than 6 cm Is typical planktonic. His daily diet – crustaceans squad effusive that form krill (mass accumulation). Eating masses of plankton, the animal may swallow the small fish or squid.
As the length of the head of the whale is one third of the whole body, his mouth resembles a huge size capacity, consisting of numerous Horny plates. These plates are called baleen. They grow up in the sky, presenting its structure, the semblance of a sieve.
The blue whale swims through the pockets of the prey with an open mouth at high speed. Then closes the mouth and tongue with force pushes the water through their baleen plates. As a result, water is pushed through a special hole at the top of the back, and food remains.
The lower jaw of enormous size is of such weight that the mammal is sometimes difficult to close the mouth. Often gaining food , the blue whale rolls on his back or side and under the action of gravity to fall shut by itself.
Reproduction
These marine inhabitants sexual maturity is reached in a period of 5 years. The female by this time reaches a length of up to 25 meters. The biggest whales in the world are monogamous. They are long form pairs, and under no circumstances does not leave the female holding nearby.
Females give birth to 1 every two years. Pregnancy lasts about 11 months. While initially formed multiple embryos, which in the later stages of pregnancy resolve.
Even in the primary stages of development the embryo of a blue whale is quite large. By the end of the first month of its length may exceed half a meter.
The female feeds milk for babies 7 months. During the day it gets to 90 l of milk fat, is extremely rich in proteins.
Lifestyle
The blue whale is a solitary animal. Only in areas with abundant availability of food may form small groups.
Floating at the water surface, the blue whale is not as agile as other cetaceans. His movements more clumsy and slow.He dives pretty deep.Can dive to a depth of 200 metres and stay under water for up to 20 minutes.
After a dive, the breathing of an animal quickens to 12 times per minute. Every time you receive a fountain. After a long deep dive the blue whale makes a shallow dive and is emerging from 6 to 15раз. Small dive lasts 15-40 seconds and surfacing -6-7 seconds.
The large whale at a short distance and can swim at a speed of 37 km/h, capacity up to 500 horsepower.
Diseases, natural enemies
Adult blue whales have no natural enemies, which favors a huge amount of. Young individuals can become a victim of killer whales, which are a pack.
Among the cutaneous parasites of the whale is most common fouling barnacles crustaceans. Endoparasites rarely impress, so he’s not using to feed the fish, which are a source of infection with worms.
Significant threat to these animals is the sea pollution with oil products.
