T H E B L U E W H A L E
Balanoptera sibbaldii, Gray
Physalus sibbaldii, Gray, ‘ P .Z .S.’ p. 92 (1847).
Pkysalus la tirostris, Flower, ‘ P.Z.S.’ p. 410 (1864).
Cuvierius la tiro stris, Gray, ‘ Cat. Seals and Whales,’ p. 165 (1866).
Cuvierius sibbaldii, Gray, ‘ Cat. Seals and Whales,’ p. 380 (1866).
Balanoptera Carolina, Malm, ‘ Nagra blad om Hvaldjur’ (Goteborg, 1866); see Flower,
‘ P.Z.S.’ (1868).
Sibbaldius sulphurous, Cope, * Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad.’ (1869).
Balanoptera sibbaldii, Bell, ‘ B r it Quad.’ 2nd ed. p. 402 (1874); also Southwell, Flower,
Lydekker and Johnston.
Balanoptera musculus, True, On the Nom enclature o f the Whalebone W hales o f the Tenth
E d itio n o f L in n a u s's ‘ Systerna N a tu ra ,’ ‘ Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus.’ 21, pp. 617-635
(1898).
Local Names.— B lu e Whale, Sibbalds Rorqual, Sulphur-bottom. (English); Blaa -hva l (Norwegian)
; Tun nolik (Greenlanders); Steypireydr (Icelandic).
Characters.— This species is the largest of all Whales. It frequently measures
80 feet but seldom exceeds 85 feet in length. Two examples are said to have
reached 105 and 107 feet,1 but these records are not above suspicion. A bull
killed by Captain Foden near Derafjord, Iceland, in 1896, and measuring 102 feet,2
is probably the record Whale. I met Captain Foden at Rona’s Voe, Shetland, in
1904, and he gave me these particulars, which are confirmed and accepted by all
Whale captains I have met. Another example, 92 feet in length, the largest taken
in western waters, was killed near Balaena, Hermitage Bay, Newfoundland, in
May 1903® At Rose-au-Rue, 85 feet is the longest, and at Chaleur and St.
Lawrence several Blue Whales of 82 and 83 feet have been captured. All these
very big Whales were taken early in March and April. The greatest length of a
1 Collett remarks that Foyn once observed an individual 132 feet long. Since the Whale was not killed, the length must
be regarded as an exaggeration.
1 Cocks and Guldberg do not seem to accept a hundred-foot Blue Whale, but I think that this specimen was as
accurately measured as other large examples.
* Dubar gives 95 feet as the length of the Ostend Whale, but many authorities do not accept these measurements. True
gives a maximum of 89 feet Scoresby also mentions a Blue Whale stranded in the Humber in r75o which taped 101 feet.