Fin Whale

The fin whale is the second-largest animal on Earth after the blue whale, found in oceans worldwide from polar to tropical waters, though it is most common in temperate and cold seas. It has a long, streamlined body, a tall, curved dorsal fin set well back on the body, and an unusual asymmetrical coloration on its lower jaw, dark on the left side and pale on the right, a distinguishing feature unique among large whales. Fin whales feed by lunging through dense swarms of krill, small schooling fish and squid, engulfing enormous volumes of water and prey before filtering it out through the baleen plates in their mouths. Among the fastest of the great whales, capable of sustained high-speed swimming that earned it the nickname the greyhound of the sea, it can migrate vast distances between feeding and breeding grounds each year. Heavily hunted during the twentieth century whaling era, fin whale populations were severely depleted, and although commercial whaling of the species has largely ended, it remains classified as vulnerable, with populations only slowly recovering in parts of its range.