Fin whale

{{Short description|Large baleen whale species}} {{good article}} {{Pp-move|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Use American English|date=January 2024}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = Early Pleistocene – Recent {{fossil range|1.3|0|ref=<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Tsai, C.-H.|author2=Boessenecker, R.W.|year=2017|title=The earliest-known fin whale, ''Balaenoptera physalus'', from the Early Pleistocene of Northern California, U.S.A.|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=37|issue=2|at=e1306536|doi=10.1080/02724634.2017.1306536|bibcode=2017JVPal..37E6536T |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316909466}}</ref>}} | name = Fin whale<ref name=MSW3>{{MSW3 Cetacea|id=14300023|page=725}}</ref> | image = Finhval (1).jpg | image_caption = A fin whale surfacing in waters around Greenland | image2 = Fin whale size.svg | image2_caption = Size compared to an average human | image2_alt = Illustration of a whale and a human diver. The whale is many times the size of the human. | status = VU | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Cooke, J.G. |date=2018 |title=''Balaenoptera physalus'' |volume=2018 |article-number=e.T2478A50349982 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T2478A50349982.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> | status2 = G3 | status2_system = TNC | status2_ref = <ref name=NS>{{cite NatureServe |id=2.103352 |title=''Balaenoptera physalus'' |access-date=17 May 2026}}</ref> | status3 = CITES_A1 | status3_system = CITES | status3_ref = <ref name=CITES>{{Cite Species+ |id=9445 |title=''Balaenoptera physalus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) |access-date=17 May 2026}}</ref> | genus = Balaenoptera | species = physalus | authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) | subdivision_ranks = Subspecies | subdivision = *''B. p. physalus'' *''B. p. quoyi'' *''B. p. velifera'' | range_map = Balaenoptera physalus - distribution range.svg | range_map_caption = Fin whale range (in blue) | synonyms = {{Collapsible list| |''Balaena physalus'' {{small|Linnaeus, 1758}} |''Balaena boops'' {{small|Linnaeus, 1758}} |''Balaena antiquorum'' Fischer, 1829<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_no-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA525|title=Synopsis Mammalium|year=1829|page=525|last1=Fischer|first1=Johann Baptist|access-date=28 November 2015|archive-date=6 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506052047/https://books.google.com/books?id=_no-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA525|url-status=live}}</ref> |''Balaena quoyi'' Fischer, 1829 |''Balaena musculus'' Companyo, 1830 |''Balaenoptera rorqual'' Lacépède, 1804 |''Balaenoptera gibbar'' Lacépède, 1804 |''Balaenoptera mediterraneensis'' Lesson, 1828<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=A5g-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA442 Hist. Nat. Gén. et Partie, des Mamm. et Oiseaux découverts depuis 1788] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623201545/https://books.google.com/books?id=A5g-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA442 |date=23 June 2016 }}''</ref> |''Balaenoptera jubartes'' Dewhurst, 1834<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dewhurst |first=H. W. (Henry William) |url=http://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryo00dewhgoog |title=The natural history of the order Cetacea, and the oceanic inhabitants of the Arctic regions |date=1834 |publisher=London, Published by the author |others=Oxford University|page=101}}</ref> |''Balaenoptera australis'' Gray, 1846 |''Balaenoptera patachonicus'' Burmeister, 1865 |''Balaenoptera velifera'' Cope, 1869 |''Physalis vulgaris'' Fleming, 1828 |''Rorqualus musculus'' F. Cuvier, 1836 |''Pterobalaena communis'' Van Beneden, 1857<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PKxJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA403|title=Bulletins de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts|date=1859|page=403|last1=Académie Royale Des Sciences|first1=des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (Bruxelles)|publisher=Hayez |isbn=978-1-01-322362-4|access-date=28 November 2015|archive-date=10 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610002123/https://books.google.com/books?id=PKxJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA403|url-status=live}}</ref> }} }}

The '''fin whale''' ('''''Balaenoptera physalus'''''), also known as the '''finback whale''' or '''common rorqual''', is a species of baleen whale and the second-longest cetacean after the blue whale. The biggest individual reportedly measured {{cvt|26|-|27.3|m}} in length, with a maximum recorded weight of {{convert|65.5|to|120|t|ST LT|lk=on}}. The fin whale's body is long, slender and brownish-gray in color, with a paler underside to appear less conspicuous from below (countershading).<ref name="Fin Whale: Balaenoptera physalus">{{Citation |title=Fin Whale: Balaenoptera physalus |date=2018-01-01 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals |pages=368–371 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/edited-volume/abs/pii/B978012804327100128X |access-date=2026-03-13 |publisher=Academic Press |language=en-US |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-804327-1.00128-X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

At least two recognized subspecies exist, one in the North Atlantic and one across the Southern Hemisphere. It is found in all the major oceans, from polar to tropical waters, though it is absent only from waters close to the pack ice at the poles and relatively small areas of water away from the open ocean. The highest population density occurs in temperate and cool waters. Its prey mainly consists of smaller schooling fish, small squid, or crustaceans, including copepods and krill. Mating takes place in temperate, low-latitude seas during the winter.<ref name="Fin Whale: Balaenoptera physalus"/> Fin whales are often observed in pods of 6–10 animals, with whom they communicate utilizing frequency-modulated sounds, ranging from 16 to 40 hertz.

Like all other large whales, the fin whale was a prized kill during the "heyday" of whaling, from 1840 to 1861. It remained so into the 20th century but decades of overharvesting contributed to declining numbers through the late 20th century. Over 725,000 fin whales were reportedly taken from the Southern Hemisphere between 1905 and 1976. Post-recovery numbers of the southern subspecies are predicted to be less than 50% of the pre-whaling population, even by 2100, due to long-lasting impacts of whaling and slow recovery rates. In the North Atlantic it is considered to be fully recovered from past exploitation, while in other oceans it is still in the process of recovery. As of 2018, it was assessed as vulnerable by the IUCN.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021"/>

== Taxonomy == {{See also|Evolution of cetaceans}}

{{cladogram |align=right |caption=A phylogenetic tree of six baleen whale species<ref name=Arnason_etal_2018>{{cite journal | last1=Árnason|first1=U. | last2=Lammers|first2= F. | last3=Kumar|first3=V. | last4=Nilsson|first4=M. A. | last5=Janke|first5=A. | title=Whole-genome sequencing of the blue whale and other rorquals finds signatures for introgressive gene flow | journal=Science Advances | volume=4 | issue = 4 | article-number=eaap9873 | date=2018| bibcode=2018SciA....4.9873A | doi=10.1126/sciadv.aap9873 | pmid=29632892 | pmc=5884691}}</ref> |clades={{clade|style=font-size:90%;line-height:75%;width:350px; |label1=Balaenopteridae |1={{clade |1=''B. acutorostrata'' (minke whale) 50px |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=''B. musculus'' (blue whale) 50px |2=''B. borealis'' (sei whale) 50px }} |2={{clade |1=''Eschrichtius robustus'' (gray whale) 50px |2={{clade |1='''''B. physalus''''' ('''fin whale''') 50px |2=''Megaptera novaeangliae'' (humpback whale) 50px }} }} }} }} }} }}

The fin whale was first described by Friderich Martens in 1675 and by Paul Dudley in 1725. The former description was used as the primary basis for the species ''Balaena physalus'' by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.<ref>{{cite book |last=Linnaeus |first=C. |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata |publisher=Holmiae. (Laurentii Salvii) |year=1758 |page=824 |url=http://dz1.gdz-cms.de/index.php?id=img&no_cache=1&IDDOC=265100 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319115418/http://dz1.gdz-cms.de/index.php?id=img&no_cache=1&IDDOC=265100 |archive-date=19 March 2015 |language=la}}</ref> In 1804, Bernard Germain de Lacépède reclassified the species as ''Balaenoptera rorqual'', based on a specimen that had stranded on Île Sainte-Marguerite (Cannes, France) in 1798. In 1830, Louis Companyo described a specimen that had been stranded near Saint-Cyprien, southern France, in 1828 as ''Balaena musculus''. Most later authors followed him in using the specific name ''musculus'', until Frederick W. True (1898) showed that it referred to the blue whale. In 1846, British taxonomist John Edward Gray described a {{cvt|16.7|m}} specimen from the Falkland Islands as ''Balaenoptera australis''. In 1865, German naturalist Hermann Burmeister described a roughly {{cvt|15|m}} specimen found near Buenos Aires about 30 years earlier as ''Balaenoptera patachonicus''. In 1903, Romanian scientist Emil Racoviță placed all these designations into ''Balaenoptera physalus''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=Glover Morrill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30YZAAAAYAAJ |title=The Whalebone Whales of New England |date=1915 |publisher=Boston Society of Natural History Saltonstall fund |pages=78–107 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Cousteau |first=Jacques |year=1988 |title=Whales |url=https://archive.org/details/jacquescousteauw00cous |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/jacquescousteauw00cous/page/77 77]|publisher=H.N. Abrams |isbn=978-0-8109-1046-1 }}</ref> The word ''physalus'' comes from the Greek word ''physa'', meaning "blows", referring to the prominent blow of the species.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martens |first=Friedrich |url=http://archive.org/details/friderichmartens00mart |title=Friderich Martens vom Hamburg Spitzbergische oder groenlandische Reise Beschreibung gethan im Jahr 1671.: Aus eigner Erfahrunge beschrieben, die dazu erforderte Figuren nach dem Leben selbst abgerissen, (so hierbey in Kupfferzusehen) und jetzo durch den Druck mitgetheilet |date=1675 |publisher=Hamburg : Auff Gottfried Schultzens Kosten gedruckt |others=John Carter Brown Library |page=132}}</ref>

Fin whales are rorquals, members of the family Balaenopteridae, which includes the humpback whale, the blue whale, Bryde's whale, the sei whale, and the minke whale. The family diverged from the other baleen whales in the suborder Mysticeti as long ago as the middle Miocene.<ref name="Deméré 2005">{{cite journal |last1 = Deméré |first1 = T.A. |last2 = Berta |first2 = A. |last3 = McGowen |first3 = M.R. |year = 2005 |title = The taxonomic and evolutionary history of fossil and modern balaenopteroid mysticetes |journal = Journal of Mammalian Evolution |volume = 12 |issue = 1/2 |pages = 99–143 |doi = 10.1007/s10914-005-6944-3|s2cid = 90231 }}</ref>

Recent DNA evidence indicates the fin whale may be more closely related to the humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') and, in at least one study, the gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus''), two whales in different genera, than it is to members of its own genus, such as the minke whales.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Cetacean mitochondrial DNA control region: sequences of all extant baleen whales and two sperm whale species |author1=Arnason, U. |author2=Gullberg, A. |author3= Widegren, B. |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=10 |pages=960–970|date=1 September 1993 |pmid=8412655|issue=5 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040061 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Mitochondrial Phylogenetics and Evolution of Mysticete Whales |author=Sasaki, T. |journal=Systematic Biology|volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=77–90 |date=23 February 2005 |doi=10.1080/10635150590905939 |pmid=15805012 |display-authors=etal |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Phylogenetic relationships among the baleen whales based on maternally and paternally inherited characters |last1=Hatch|first1=L.T. |last2=Dopman|first2=E.B. |last3=Harrison|first3=R.G. |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=41 |pages=12–27 |date=26 May 2006 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2006.05.023 |url=http://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/dopman/documents/pub2006PhylogeneticRelationships.pdf|issue=1|pmid=16843014|bibcode=2006MolPE..41...12H |access-date=30 August 2014|archive-date=10 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210080146/http://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/dopman/documents/pub2006PhylogeneticRelationships.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title= Radiation of Extant Cetaceans Driven by Restructuring of the Ocean|last1=Seeman|first1=Mette E.|display-authors=etal|journal=Systematic Biology |date=December 2009 |volume=58 |issue=6 |pages=573–585 |jstor=25677547 |doi=10.1093/sysbio/syp060 |pmid=20525610 |pmc=2777972}}</ref>  As of 2023, four subspecies are named, each with distinct physical features and vocalizations. The '''northern fin whale''', ''B. p. physalus'' (Linnaeus 1758) inhabits the North Atlantic and the '''southern fin whale''', ''B. p. quoyi'' (Fischer 1829) occupies the Southern Hemisphere.<ref name="itis">{{ITIS | id = 180527 | taxon = Balaenoptera physalus | access-date = 23 October 2006 }}</ref> Most experts consider the fin whales of the North Pacific to be a third subspecies—this was supported by a 2013 study, which found that the Northern Hemisphere ''B. p. physalus'' was not composed of a single subspecies.<ref name=Archer2013>{{cite journal | last1 = Archer | first1 = FI | last2 = Morin | first2 = PA | last3 = Hancock-Hanser | first3 = BL | last4 = Robertson | first4 = KM | last5 = Leslie | first5 = MS | year = 2013 | title = Mitogenomic Phylogenetics of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus spp.): Genetic Evidence for Revision of Subspecies | journal = PLOS ONE| volume = 8 | issue = 5| article-number = e63396 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0063396 |display-authors=etal|bibcode = 2013PLoSO...863396A | pmid=23691042 | pmc=3656932| doi-access = free }}</ref> A 2019 genetic study concluded that the North Pacific fin whales should be considered a subspecies, suggesting the name ''B. p. velifera'' (Scammon 1869). The three groups mix at most rarely.<ref name=Archer2019>{{cite journal | last1 = Archer | first1 = FI | last2 = Brownell | first2 = Robert | last3 = Hancock-Hanser | first3 = Brittany | last4 = Morin | first4 = Phillip | last5 = Robertson | first5 = Kelly| last6 = Sherman | first6 = Kathryn| last7 = John | first7 = Calambokidis| last8 = Jorge | first8 = Urbán| last9 = Rosel | first9 = Patricia| last10 = Mizroch | first10 = Sally| last11= Panigada | first11 = Panigoda| last12 = Taylor | first12 = Barbara | year = 2019 | title = Revision of fin whale Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758) subspecies using genetics | journal = Journal of Mammalogy| volume = 100 | issue = 5| pages = 1653–1670 | doi = 10.1093/jmammal/gyz121 }}</ref>

Clarke (2004) proposed a "pygmy" subspecies (''B. p. patachonica'', Burmeister, 1865) that is purportedly darker in colour and has black baleen. He based this on a single physically mature {{cvt|19.8|m}} female caught in the Antarctic in 1947–48, the smaller average size (a few feet) of sexually and physically mature fin whales caught by the Japanese around 50°S, and smaller, darker sexually immature fin whales caught in the Antarctic which he believed were a "migratory phase" of his proposed subspecies.<ref name=Clarke2004>{{cite journal| last1 = Clarke | first1 = R. | year = 2004 | title = Pygmy fin whales | journal = Marine Mammal Science | volume = 20 | issue = 2| pages = 329–334 | doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.2004.tb01161.x| bibcode = 2004MMamS..20..329C }}</ref> The subspecies has not been genetically established,<ref name="Archer2019" /> and is not recognized by the Society for Marine Mammalogy.<ref name="mammalogy">{{cite web |url=https://www.marinemammalscience.org/species-information/list-marine-mammal-species-subspecies/ |title=List of Marine Mammal Species and Subspecies{{!}}April 2022 |date=13 November 2016 |publisher=Society for Marine Mammalogy |access-date=30 April 2022 |archive-date=27 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127215426/https://marinemammalscience.org/species-information/list-marine-mammal-species-subspecies/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Hybrids ===

The genetic distance between blue and fin whales has been compared to that between a chimpanzee and human<ref>{{cite journal|author1=A. Arnason |author2=A. Gullberg | title = Comparison between the complete mtDNA sequences of the blue and fin whale, two species that can hybridize in nature | journal = Journal of Molecular Evolution | year = 1993 | volume = 37 |issue=4 |pages = 312–322 |pmid=8308901 |doi=10.1007/BF00178861 |bibcode=1993JMolE..37..312A |s2cid=6280748 }}</ref> (3.5 million years on the evolutionary tree.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Árnasson |first1=Ú. |first2=R. |last2=Spilliaert |last3=Pálsdóttir |first3=Á. |last4=Árnasson |first4=Ú |title=A new hybrid between a blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, and a fin whale, B. physalus: frequency and implications of hybridization |journal=Marine Mammal Science |volume=14 | issue = 1|pages=82–98 |date=January 1998|doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.1998.tb00692.x |bibcode=1998MMamS..14...82B}}</ref>) Nevertheless, hybrid individuals between blue and fin whales with characteristics of both are known to occur with relative frequency in both the North Atlantic and North Pacific.<ref name="berube and aguilar">{{cite journal |last1=Bérubé|first1=Martine|last2=Aguilar|first2=Alex|title = A new hybrid between a blue whale, ''Balaenoptera musculus'', and a fin whale, ''B. physalus'': frequency and implications of hybridization | journal = Marine Mammal Science| volume = 14 | issue = 1| pages = 82–98 | year = 1998 | doi = 10.1111/j.1748-7692.1998.tb00692.x|bibcode=1998MMamS..14...82B }}</ref><ref name="doroshenko">{{cite journal | author = Doroshenko, V.N. | year = 1970 | title = A whale with features of the fin and blue whale (in Russian) | journal = Izvestia TINRO | volume = 70 | pages = 225–257 }}</ref> The substantial overlap in both distribution and diet, and the fact that fin and blue whales often join in mixed schools, likely explains the apparently high frequency of hybridisation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=García-Vernet |first1=Raquel |last2=Borrell |first2=Asunción |last3=Víkingsson |first3=Gísli |last4=Halldórsson |first4=Sverrir D. |last5=Aguilar |first5=Alex |date=2021-12-01 |title=Ecological niche partitioning between baleen whales inhabiting Icelandic waters |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079661121001749 |journal=Progress in Oceanography |volume=199 |article-number=102690 |doi=10.1016/j.pocean.2021.102690 |bibcode=2021PrOce.19902690G |issn=0079-6611|hdl=2445/184348 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Aguilar |first1=Alex |last2=Borrell |first2=Asunción |date=2022-03-31 |title=Unreported catches, impact of whaling and current status of blue whales in the South European Atlantic Shelf |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |article-number=5491 |doi=10.1038/s41598-022-09570-6 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=8971400 |pmid=35361884 |bibcode=2022NatSR..12.5491A }}</ref>

The DNA profile of a sampling of whale meat in the Japanese market found evidence of blue/fin hybrids.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Palumbi |first1=S.R. |author-link1=Stephen R. Palumbi |last2=Cipriano |first2=F. |title=Species Identification Using Genetic Tools: The Value of Nuclear and Mitochondrial Gene Sequences in Whale Conservation |journal=Journal of Heredity |year=1998 |volume=89 |issue=5 |pages=459–464 |doi=10.1093/jhered/89.5.459 |pmid=9768497 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Similarly, a whale caught by whalers off the coast of Iceland in 2018 was found to be a hybrid descended from a female blue whale and a male fin whale.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pampoulie |first1=Christophe |last2=Gíslason |first2=Davíð |last3=Ólafsdóttir |first3=Guðbjörg |last4=Chosson |first4=Valérie |last5=Halldórsson |first5=Sverrir Daníel |last6=Mariani |first6=Stefano |last7=Elvarsson |first7=Bjarki Þ. |last8=Rasmussen |first8=Marianne H. |last9=Iversen |first9=Maria R. |last10=Daníelsdóttir |first10=Anna Kristín |last11=Víkingsson |first11=Gísli A. |date=February 2021 |title=Evidence of unidirectional hybridization and second-generation adult hybrid between the two largest animals on Earth, the fin and blue whales |journal=Evolutionary Applications |language=en |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=314–321 |doi=10.1111/eva.13091 |issn=1752-4571 |pmc=7896702 |pmid=33664778 |bibcode=2021EvApp..14..314P }}</ref> A 2024 genome analysis of North Atlantic blue whales found that approximately 3.5% of their genome was derived from hybridization with fin whales. The gene flow was determined to be unidirectional from fin to blue whales. Despite their smaller size, fin whales have similar cruising and sprinting speeds to blue whales, which would allow fin males to complete courtship chases with blue females.<ref name=Jossey_et_al_2024>{{cite journal | last1=Jossey|first1=Sushma | last2=Haddrath|first2=O. | last3=Loureiro|first3=L. | last4=Weir|first4=J. | last5=Lim|first5=B. | last6=Miller|first6=J. | last7=Scherer|first7=S. | last8=Goskøyr|first8=A. | last9=Lille-Langøy|first9=R. | last10=Kovacs|first10=Kit| last11=Lyndersen|first11=C.| last12=Routti|first12=H. | last13=Engstrom|first13=M. | title=Population structure and history of North Atlantic Blue whales (''Balaenoptera musculus musculus'') inferred from whole genome sequence analysis | journal=Conservation Genetics | volume=Open access | date=2024-01-06 |issue=2 |pages=357–371 | doi=10.1007/s10592-023-01584-5| doi-access=free |bibcode=2024ConG...25..357J | hdl=11250/3164708 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>

== Anatomy ==

[[File:Balaenoptera physalus Saint-Laurent 02.jpg|thumb|A fin whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, showing characteristic backswept dorsal fin]]

The body is relatively slender, with a slender back and a large, hook-shaped dorsal fin measuring {{cvt|61|cm}}, located on the fourth posterior end of the body. It has an elongated ridge on its back, and around 260 to 480 baleen plates.<ref name="EOMM">{{cite book |last1=Rugh |first1=David J. |last2=Shelden |first2=Kim E.W. |title=Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals |chapter=Fin Whale |chapter-url={{GBurl|2rkHQpToi9sC|p=433}} |date=2009 |pages=433–437 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-373553-9.00102-4 |isbn=978-0-12-373553-9 }}</ref><ref name=Jefferson/><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Still |first1=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LciXDwAAQBAJ&q=Fin+whale |title=Europe's Sea Mammals Including the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde: A Field Guide to the Whales, Dolphins, Porpoises and Seals |last2=Harrop |first2=Hugh |last3=Stenton |first3=Tim |last4=Dias |first4=Luís |date=2019-06-25 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-18216-2 |page=46 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Leatherwood_etal_1976">{{cite journal|author1=Leatherwood, S.|author2=Caldwell, D. K.|author3=Winn, H. E.|date=1976|title=Whales, dolphins, and porpoises of the western North Atlantic|url=http://aquaticcommons.org/1417/|journal=NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular|volume=396|page=176|access-date=15 December 2025|archive-date=20 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720121225/http://aquaticcommons.org/1417/}}</ref><ref name="Leatherwood_etal_1982">{{cite journal | author1=Leatherwood, S. | author2=Reeves, R. R. | author3=Perrin, W. F. | author4=Evans, W. E. | title=Whales, dolphins, and porpoises of the eastern North Pacific and adjacent Arctic waters: A guide to their identification | journal=NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular | volume=444 | page=245 | date=1982 | url=https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/5472}}</ref>It has two blowholes that can squirt {{cvt|4|-|6|m}} up in the air.<ref name=Jefferson/> Like most rorquals, the fin whale has grooves between the tip of the lower jaw and the navel.<ref name="EOMM"/><ref name="Endangered">{{Cite book |last=Cavendish |first=Marshall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c4TnNFY2A6sC&dq=Fin+whale&pg=PA1636 |title=Endangered Wildlife and Plants of the World |date=2001 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish Corporation|isbn=978-0-7614-7206-3 |page=1636 |language=en}}</ref>

Among whale species, the fin whale is exceeded in size only by the blue whale.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Stuart |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pO5LEAAAQBAJ&q=Fin+whale+weight |title=Marine Mammals: A guide to the whales, dolphins and seals of southern Africa and the Southern Ocean |date=2021-11-01 |publisher=Penguin Random House South Africa |isbn=978-1-77584-790-8 |language=en}}</ref> Adults usually average {{convert|36|-|45|tonne|ST}} in weight.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whyte |first=Malcolm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1kGKszxfGjIC&q=Fin+whale+weight |title=Great Whales |date=1995-09-12 |publisher=Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated |isbn=978-0-8431-3878-8 |language=en}}</ref> Males have a mean length of {{cvt|21|m}}, and females of {{cvt|22|m}}. They are sexually dimorphic, with females generally being longer and heavier than males.<ref name="Fin Whale: Balaenoptera physalus"/><ref name="Klinowska">{{cite book|last1=Klinowska |first1=Margaret |year=1991 |title=Dolphins, Porpoises, and Whales of the World: the IUCN Red Data Book |pages=409–415|publisher=IUCN Publications |location=Columbia University Press, NY |url=https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/RD-1991-001.pdf|isbn=978-2-88032-936-5}}</ref><ref name=Jefferson/> The largest specimens can attain lengths of over {{cvt|26|-|27|m}}<ref name=Jefferson/><ref name="Klinowska" /> and weights of {{convert|65.5|-|80|tonne|ST}}.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Paul, G.S.|author2=Larramendi, A.|year=2025|title=Further trimming down the marine heavyweights: ''Perucetus colossus'' did not come close to, much less exceed, the tonnage of blue whales, and the latter are not ultra-sized either|journal=Palaeontologia Electronica|volume=28|issue=1|at=28.1.a6|doi=10.26879/1435|url=https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2025/5431-trimming-down-perucetus|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=Lockyer_1976>{{cite journal | author1=Lockyer, C. | title=Body weights of some species of large whales | journal=J. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer | volume=36 | issue=3 | pages=259–273 | date=1976| doi=10.1093/icesjms/36.3.259 }}</ref><ref name=":0"/> The record length was measured at {{cvt|27.3|m}}.<ref name="MacWheel1929">{{cite journal | last1 = Mackintosh | first1 = N. A. | last2 = Wheeler | first2 = J. F. G. | year = 1929 | title = Southern blue and fin whales | journal = Discovery Reports | volume = I | pages = 257–540 | url = https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/236587 }}</ref> The Discovery Committee reported lengths up to {{cvt|88|ft|order=flip|sp=us}}.<ref name=Mackintosh_1942>{{cite journal | author1=Mackintosh, N. A. | title=The southern stocks of whalebone whales | journal=Discovery Reports | volume=22 | issue=3889 | pages=569–570 | date=1942| url=https://archive.org/details/cbarchive_120108_thesouthernstocksofwhalebonewh1943/page/n9/mode/2up| bibcode=1944Natur.153..569F | doi=10.1038/153569a0 | s2cid=41590649 }}</ref> The fin whale is estimated to have weighed up to {{convert|120|tonne|ST}}.<ref name=Jefferson>{{cite book|last1=Jefferson|first1=Thomas A.|last2=Webber|first2=Marc A.|last3=Pitman|first3=Robert L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sc-cBAAAQBAJ&dq=Fin+whale&pg=PA54|year=2015|title=Marine Mammals of the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification|publisher=Academic Press|edition=2nd|pages=54–58|isbn=978-0-12-409542-7}}</ref> Fin whales from the Northern Hemisphere are smaller than their southern counterparts and reach a body length of ca {{cvt|22.5|m}} for females and {{cvt|21.5|m}} for males.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aguilar, A., & Lockyer, C. H. |year=1987 |title=Growth, physical maturity, and mortality of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) inhabiting the temperate waters of the northeast Atlantic. |journal=Canadian Journal of Zoology |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=253–264 |doi=10.1139/z87-040 |bibcode=1987CaJZ...65..253A }}</ref>

thumb|right|A frontal view of a fin whale, showing asymmetrical colouration The fin whale is brownish to dark or light gray dorsally and white ventrally. The left side of the head is dark gray, while the right side exhibits a complex pattern of contrasting light and dark markings. The right lower jaw is white or light gray, which sometimes extends laterally and dorsally unto the upper jaw. Dark, oval-shaped areas of pigment called "flipper shadows" extend below and posterior to the pectoral fins.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tershy|first1=B. R.|last2=Wiley|first2=D. |title=Asymmetrical pigmentation in the fin whale: a test of two feeding related hypotheses|year=1992|journal=Marine Mammal Science |volume=8 |issue=3|pages=315–318|doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.1992.tb00416.x |bibcode=1992MMamS...8..315T}}</ref><ref name=Jefferson/>

The skull is {{cvt|4.5|-|5|m}} long and weighs {{convert|1.5|tonne|ST}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.natural-history-conservation.com/finbackblog.htm|title=The cleaning, conservation and dismantling of a 70 foot long Finback Whale skeleton in Cambridge, England|publisher=Natural History Conservation|access-date=30 January 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.natural-history-conservation.com/finbackblog2.htm|title=Moving a 4.5 metre-long, 1.5 tonne, Finback Whale skull. Again.|publisher=Natural History Conservation|access-date=30 January 2026}}</ref> The ribs had a maximum straight length of {{cvt|2.21|m|in|abbr=}}.<ref>{{cite book |author=Struthers, J. |year=1871 |title=Some points in the Anatomy of a Great Fin-Whale |volume=6 |publisher=Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 6(Pt 1) |location=London |pages=107–512.13 |pmid=17230915 |pmc=1318840 |language=en}}</ref> The liver and heart are the largest of any known animal, weighing between {{cvt|230|-|600|kg|lb|abbr=on|sp=}} for the liver and {{cvt|130|-|290|kg|lb|abbr=on|sp=}} for the heart. The kidneys are also large, weighing between {{cvt|50|-|110|kg|lb|abbr=on|sp=}}, and the right lung is about 10% heavier than the left, weighing between {{cvt|100|-|160|kg|lb|abbr=on|sp=}} each.<ref name="EOMM" />

The fin whale's penis typically measures {{cvt|1.3|m}}, with a maximum length of {{cvt|1.74|m}}; the testes usually weigh {{cvt|1|-|3|kg}} in mature individuals.<ref name="Growthfin">{{Cite journal |last=Ohsumi |first=S |date=1958 |title=Growth of fin whale in the Northern Pacific |url=https://www.icrwhale.org/pdf/SC01397-133.pdf |journal=Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute |volume=13 |pages=97–133}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nemoto |first=TAKAHISA |date=1962 |title=A secondary sexual character of fin whales |url=https://www.icrwhale.org/pdf/SC01629-34.pdf |journal=Sci. Rep. Whales Res. |issue=16 |pages=29–34}}</ref> The oral cavity of the fin whale has a very stretchy or extensible nerve system which aids them in feeding.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2015.03.007 |title=Stretchy nerves are an essential component of the extreme feeding mechanism of rorqual whales |pmid=25942546 |volume=25 |issue=9 |year=2015 |journal=Curr. Biol. |pages=R360–1 |author5-link=Nicholas Pyenson |vauthors=Vogl AW, Lillie MA, Piscitelli MA, Goldbogen JA, Pyenson ND, Shadwick RE|doi-access=free |bibcode=2015CBio...25.R360V }}</ref> An intersex fin whale was caught in South Georgia with several interesting features, including a connected testis and uterus and a severely deformed clitoris.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=J. L.|author2=BANNISTER|year=2009|title=An intersexual fin whale Balaenoptera physalus (L.) from South Georgia|journal=Journal of Zoology|volume=141|issue=4|pages=811–822|doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1963.tb01628.x|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229955669}}</ref>

In one study, a fin whale brain measured {{convert|25|cm|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|28|cm|abbr=on}} wide at the tips of the temporal lobes, and weighed around {{convert|5.2|kg|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Hof>{{cite journal|author1=Hof, P. R.|author2=Van Der Gucht, E.|year=2007|title=Structure of the cerebral cortex of the humpback whale, ''Megaptera novaeangliae'' (Cetacea, Mysticeti, Balaenopteridae)|journal=The Anatomical Record|volume=290|issue=1|pages=1–31|doi=10.1002/ar.20407|pmid=17441195 }}</ref> The encephalization quotient (EQ) of the fin whale was measured at 0.14.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Raghanti |first1=Mary Ann |last2=Wicinski |first2=Bridget |last3=Meierovich |first3=Rachel |last4=Warda |first4=Tahia |last5=Dickstein |first5=Dara L. |last6=Reidenberg |first6=Joy S. |last7=Tang |first7=Cheuk Y. |last8=George |first8=John C. |last9=Hans Thewissen |first9=J.G.M. |last10=Butti |first10=Camilla |last11=Hof |first11=Patrick R. |title=A Comparison of the Cortical Structure of the Bowhead Whale ( ''Balaena mysticetus'' ), a Basal Mysticete, with Other Cetaceans |journal=The Anatomical Record |date=2019 |volume=302 |issue=5 |pages=745–760 |doi=10.1002/ar.23991 |pmid=30332717 }}</ref>

== Life history == thumb|150px|Fin whale embryo Mating takes place during the winter months, in temperate, low-latitude waters, and the gestation period lasts between 11 and 12 months. The length of the young at birth is {{cvt|6|-|6.5|m}}. At 6 or 7 months of age, when it is {{cvt|11|-|12|m}} in length, a newborn weans from its mother, and the calf accompanies its mother to the summer feeding area. Although reports of up to six foetuses have been made, single births are far more typical. Females reproduce every two to three years. With females reaching an average of 7–12 years and males reaching an average of 6–10 years.<ref name=Jefferson/><ref name="NOAA">{{Cite web|url=https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/fin-whale|title = Fin Whale | NOAA Fisheries|date = January 30, 2026}}</ref> In the Northern Hemisphere, females reach sexual maturity between the ages of 6 and 12 at lengths of {{cvt|17.7|–|19|m}}, and around {{cvt|20|m}} in the Southern Hemisphere.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Peter G. H. |url=http://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof0000evan |title=The natural history of whales & dolphines |date=1987 |publisher=London : Helm |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7470-0800-2 |pages=206–248}}</ref><ref name="Klinowska" /> Calves remain with their mothers for about a year.<ref name=clapham />

Full physical maturity is attained between 22 and 25 years.<ref name="ADW">{{cite web |author=Fox, David |url=http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Balaenoptera_physalus.html |title=''Balaenoptera physalus'' (fin whale) |publisher=Animal Diversity Web |access-date=22 October 2006 |year=2001 |archive-date=15 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515053547/http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Balaenoptera_physalus.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="NOAA" /> Fin whales can live to an age of 75–90 years.<ref name="ADW" /><ref name=Jefferson/><ref name="NOAA" /> The maximum lifespan of a fin whale is at least 94 years,<ref name="martin">{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Anthony R. |title=Whales and dolphins |publisher=Salamander Books |location=London |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-8160-3922-7|pages=20–46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=John E.|first1=Reynolds|title=Biology of Marine Mammals|publisher=Smithsonian|isbn=978-1-58834-420-5|page=257|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lKVqBgAAQBAJ&dq=Minke+whale+60+years&pg=PA257|access-date=12 September 2025|language=en|date=2013}}</ref> with a maximum recorded lifespan of 114 years in a 1979 study.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=S. |first1=Ohsumi |date=1979 |title=Interspecies relationships among some biological parameters in cetaceans and estimation of the natural mortality coefficient of the Southern Hemisphere minke whale |journal=Whaling Comm |volume=29 |pages=397–406}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=Greg A.|author2=Breed|author3=Els|author4=Vermeulen|author5=Peter|author6=Corkeron|year=2024|title=Extreme longevity may be the rule not the exception in Balaenid whales|journal=Science Advances|volume=51|issue=1|article-number=eadq3086 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.adq3086|pmid=39705342 |doi-access=free|pmc=11661453 |bibcode=2024SciA...10.3086B }}</ref><ref name="John-C">{{Cite journal |last1=George |first1=John C. |last2=Bada |first2=Jeffrey |last3=Zeh |first3=Judith |last4=Scott |first4=Laura |last5=Brown |first5=Stephen E. |last6=O'Hara |first6=Todd |last7=Suydam |first7=Robert |title=Age and growth estimates of bowhead whales ( ''Balaena mysticetus'' ) via aspartic acid racemization |journal=Canadian Journal of Zoology |date=1999 |volume=77 |issue=4 |pages=571–580 |doi=10.1139/z99-015 |bibcode=1999CaJZ...77..571G }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rangel |first1=Francisco Alejandro Lagunas |title=Deciphering the whale's secrets to have a long life |journal=Experimental Gerontology |date=August 2021 |volume=151 |article-number=111425 |doi=10.1016/j.exger.2021.111425 |pmid=34051285 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The female specimen, which was found in 2010 measuring {{cvt|17.6|m}} in length and weighing {{convert|30|tonne|ST}}, is estimated to be 135–140 years old.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-10-28 |title=Finhvalen var mindst 135 år gammel |url=https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/finhvalen-var-mindst-135-aar-gammel |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=DR |language=da}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-06-20 |title=Finhvalen er kommet på land |url=https://www.sn.dk/art5718223/danmark/finhvalen-er-kommet-paa-land/ |access-date=2026-01-26 |website=Sjællandske Nyheder |language=da}}</ref> A 1958 study found that the Fin whale specimens were probably around 50 years old or 60–67 years old.<ref name=Growthfin /> The three fin whales killed as part of a commercial hunt in Iceland in 2013 and 2015 were found to be aged 82, 80 and 65.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Steven E.|author2=Campana|year=2024|title=Bomb radiocarbon determines absolute age of adult fin whales, and validates use of earplug growth bands for age determination|journal= Frontiers in Marine Science|volume=11|issue=2024|article-number=1327752 |doi=10.3389/fmars.2024.1327752 |bibcode=2024FrMaS..1127752C |doi-access=free }}</ref> The fin whale is one of the fastest cetaceans and can sustain speeds between {{cvt|37|km/h}}<ref name="ADW" /><ref name=Leatherwood_etal_1976 /><ref name="Leatherwood_etal_1982" /> and {{cvt|41|km/h}} and bursts up to {{cvt|46|-|50|km/h}} have been recorded, earning the fin whale the nickname "the greyhound of the sea".<ref name=FordReeves2008 /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nature.ca/notebooks/english/finwale.htm |title=Fin Whale |publisher=Canadian Museum of Nature |access-date=22 October 2006 |archive-date=5 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205215748/http://www.nature.ca/notebooks/english/finwale.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> The maximum speed measured by methods such as satellite tracking or GPS was {{cvt|40|km/h}}.<ref name=FordReeves2008>{{cite journal | last1 = Ford | first1 = J. K. | last2 = Reeves | first2 = R. R. | year = 2008 | title = Fight or flight: antipredator strategies of baleen whales | journal = Mammal Review | volume = 38 | issue = 1| pages = 50–86 | doi=10.1111/j.1365-2907.2008.00118.x| bibcode = 2008MamRv..38...50F | citeseerx = 10.1.1.573.6671 | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229779570 }}</ref> The American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews has pointed out that the fin whale, like the blue whale, is endurance and more power than the sei whale.<ref>Andrews, Roy Chapman. 1916. ''[https://archive.org/details/whalehuntingwith00andrrich/page/128/mode/2up Whale hunting with gun and camera; a naturalist's account of the modern shore-whaling industry, of whales and their habits, and of hunting experiences in various parts of the world]''. New York: D. Appleton and Co., p. 128.</ref> Fin whales are more gregarious than other rorquals, and often live in groups of 6–10, although feeding groups may reach up to 100–250 animals.<ref name="Klinowska" /><ref name="ADW" />

=== Vocalizations === {{See also|Whale sound|List of whale vocalizations}} {| class="toccolours" style="float:right;margin-left: 1em;" |- style="text-align: center;" |'''Multimedia relating to the fin whale'''<div class="small">''The whale calls have been sped up 10x from their original speed.''</div> |- |{{listen|filename=FinWhaleAtlantic-10x.ogg|title=A fin whale song|description=Recorded in the Atlantic|format=Ogg}} |} Like other whales, males make long, loud, low-frequency sounds.<ref name="ADW" /> The vocalizations of blue and fin whales are the lowest-frequency sounds made by any animal.<ref name=Payne>{{cite book |last=Payne |first=Roger |title=Among Whales |publisher=Scribner |year=1995 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/amongwhales00payn/page/176 176] |isbn=978-0-684-80210-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/amongwhales00payn/page/176}}</ref> Most sounds are frequency-modulated (FM) down-swept infrasonic pulses from 16 to 40 hertz frequency (the range of sounds that most humans can hear falls between 20 hertz and 20 kilohertz). Each sound lasts one to two seconds, and various sound combinations occur in patterned sequences lasting 7 to 15 minutes each. The whale then repeats the sequences in bouts lasting up to many days.<ref name="cornell">{{cite web |url=https://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/listen-to-project-sounds/fin-whales |title=Finback Whales |publisher=Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology |access-date=26 October 2006 |archive-date=14 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714185827/http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/listen-to-project-sounds/fin-whales | url-status=live }}</ref> The vocal sequences have source levels of up to 160–186 decibels relative to 1 micropascal at a reference distance of one metre and can be detected hundreds of miles from their source.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Richardson |first1=W. John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OIWmaG906jgC&dq=Fin+whale&pg=PA167 |title=Marine Mammals and Noise |last2=Jr |first2=Charles R. Greene |last3=Malme |first3=Charles I. |date=1995 |publisher=Gulf Professional Publishing |isbn=978-0-12-588441-9 |page=167 |language=en}}</ref>

When fin whale sounds were first recorded by US biologists, they did not realize that these unusually loud, long, pure and regular sounds were being made by whales. They first investigated the possibilities that the sounds were due to equipment malfunction, geophysical phenomena, or even part of a Soviet Union scheme for detecting enemy submarines. Eventually, biologists demonstrated that the sounds were the vocalizations of fin whales.<ref name=Payne />

Direct association of these vocalizations with the reproductive season for the species and that only males make the sounds point to these vocalizations as possible reproductive displays.<ref name="croll">{{cite journal |last1=Croll|first1=D.A. |last2=Clark|first2=C.W. |last3=Acevedo|first3=A. |last4=Flores|first4=S. |last5=Gedamke|first5=J. |last6=Urban|first6=J. |year=2002 |journal=Nature |volume=417 |issue=6891 |title=Only male fin whales sing loud songs |url=http://polymer.bu.edu/hes/articles/aabmsss02.pdf |page=809 |doi=10.1038/417809a |last7=Urban |first7=Jorge |bibcode=2002Natur.417..809C |pmid=12075339 |s2cid=4432037 |access-date=26 October 2006 |archive-date=18 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118093018/http://polymer.bu.edu/hes/articles/aabmsss02.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="tyack">{{cite journal|url=http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=JASMAN000082000006001901000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes |journal=The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |volume=82 |issue=6 |pages=1901–1902 |last1=Watkins|first1=W. |last2=Tyack|first2=P. |last3=Moore|first3=K. |last4=Bird|first4=J.|title=The 20 Hz signals of finback whales (Balaenoptera physalus)|doi=10.1121/1.395685|pmid=3429729 |year=1987|bibcode = 1987ASAJ...82.1901W |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Over the past 100 years, the dramatic increase in ocean noise from shipping and naval activity may have slowed the recovery of the fin whale population, by impeding communications between males and receptive females.<ref name="cornell02">{{cite web | title = Humanity's din in the oceans could be blocking whales' courtship songs and population recovery | url = https://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/June02/ocean_noise.hrs.html | date = 19 June 2002 | author = Segelken, R. | access-date = 11 November 2006 | publisher = Cornell University | archive-date = 13 February 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070213183954/http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/June02/ocean_noise.hrs.html | url-status = live }}</ref> Fin whale songs can penetrate over {{cvt|2500|m}} below the seafloor and seismologists can use those song waves to assist in underwater surveys.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Andrews |first1=Robin |title=Whale Songs Could Reveal Deep Secrets Beneath the Oceans |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/science/whales-seismic-waves.html |access-date=12 February 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=11 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211232827/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/science/whales-seismic-waves.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Breathing === [[File:Southern right whale caudal fin-2 no sky.JPG|thumb|Lobtailing near the Valdés Peninsula, Argentina]] [[File:Breach de rorqual commun.jpg|thumb|breaching]]

When feeding, fin whales blow five to seven times in quick succession, but while traveling or resting will blow once every minute or two. On their terminal (last) dive they arch their back high out of the water, but rarely raise their flukes out of the water. They then dive to depths of up to {{cvt|316|m}} when feeding or a few hundred feet when resting or traveling. The average feeding dive off California and Baja lasts 6 minutes, with a maximum of 16.9 minutes; when traveling or resting they usually dive for only a few minutes at a time.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Croll |first1=D. A. |last2=Acevedo-Gutiérrez |first2=A. |last3=Tershy |first3=B.R. |last4=Urbán-Ramírez |first4=J. |year=2001 |title=The diving behavior of blue and fin whales: is dive duration shorter than expected based on oxygen stores?|journal=Comp Biochem Physiol A |volume=129 |issue=4 |pages=797–809 |url=http://biol.wwu.edu/mbel/media/pdfs/CBP2001_129.pdf |doi=10.1016/s1095-6433(01)00348-8 |pmid=11440866 |access-date=22 December 2012 |archive-date=31 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110331164449/http://biol.wwu.edu/mbel/media/pdfs/CBP2001_129.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Ecology ==

=== Range and habitat === Like many large rorquals, the fin whale is a cosmopolitan species.<ref name=Jefferson/> It is found in all the world's major oceans and in waters ranging from the polar to the tropical. It is absent only from waters close to the ice pack at both the north and south extremities and relatively small areas of water away from the large oceans, such as the Red Sea, although they can reach into the Baltic Sea, a marginal sea of such conditions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cetacea.de/news/archiv/2005/10/arch051001.shtml|title=Wieder Finnwal in der Ostsee|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415090735/http://www.cetacea.de/news/archiv/2005/10/arch051001.shtml|archive-date=15 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ostsee-zeitung.de/Region-Rostock/Rostock/Finnwal-in-der-Ostsee-gesichtet|title=Rostock/Eckernförde – Finnwal in der Ostsee gesichtet – OZ – Ostsee-Zeitung|first=Ostsee-Zeitung GmbH & Co.|last=KG|website=ostsee-zeitung.de|access-date=30 October 2016|archive-date=30 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030202908/http://www.ostsee-zeitung.de/Region-Rostock/Rostock/Finnwal-in-der-Ostsee-gesichtet|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/panorama/Angler-filmt-Wal-in-Ostsee-Bucht-id34821572.html|title=Angler filmt Wal in Ostsee-Bucht|language=de|newspaper=Augsburger Allgemeine|date=17 July 2015 |access-date=30 October 2016|archive-date=30 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030202039/http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/panorama/Angler-filmt-Wal-in-Ostsee-Bucht-id34821572.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Jansson N.. 2007. [http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article11115075.ab "Vi såg valen i viken"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907032600/http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article11115075.ab |date=7 September 2017 }}. Aftonbladet. Retrieved on 7 September 2017</ref> The highest population density occurs in temperate and cool waters. It is less densely populated in the warmest, equatorial regions.<ref name="mead" />

The North Atlantic fin whale has an extensive distribution, occurring from the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean Sea, northward to Baffin Bay and Spitsbergen. In general, fin whales are more common north of approximately 30°N latitude, but considerable confusion arises about their occurrence south of 30°N latitude because of the difficulty in distinguishing fin whales from Bryde's whales.<ref name="mead">{{Cite book |last1=Mead|first1=J.G. |year=1977 |series=Rep. Int. Whal. Comm. |volume=1 |title=Report of the special meeting of the scientific committee on Sei and Bryde's whales |chapter=Records of Sei and Bryde's whales from the Atlantic Coast of the United States, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean |pages=113–116 |isbn=978-0-906975-03-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/reportofspecialm0000spec/page/n3/mode/2up}}</ref> Extensive ship surveys have led researchers to conclude that the summer feeding range of fin whales in the western North Atlantic is mainly between 30º00'N and 51°00'N, from shore seaward to the {{cvt|1000|fathom}} contour.<ref name="mitchell 1974">{{cite book |author=Mitchell, E. |title=The Whale Problem: A Status Report |editor=Schevill, W.E. |year=1974 |pages=108–169 |isbn=978-0-674-95075-7 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |chapter=Present status of Northwest Atlantic fin and other whale stocks |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/whaleproblemstat0000inte/page/108}}</ref><ref name="Fin Whale: Balaenoptera physalus" />

Summer distribution of fin whales in the North Pacific is the immediate offshore waters from central Baja California to Japan and as far north as the Chukchi Sea bordering the Arctic Ocean.<ref name="rice">{{cite book |author=Rice, D.W. |year=1974 |chapter=Whales and whale research in the eastern North Pacific |title=The Whale Problem: A Status Report |pages=170–195 |editor=Schevill, W.E. |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=978-0-674-95075-7 |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/whaleproblemstat0000inte/page/170}}</ref> They occur in high densities in the northern Gulf of Alaska and southeastern Bering Sea between May and October, with some movement through the Aleutian passes into and out of the Bering Sea.<ref name="reeves">{{cite journal |last1=Reeves|first1=R.R. |last2=Brown|first2=M.W. |year=1985| title=Whaling in the Bay of Fundy |journal=Whalewatcher| volume=19 |issue=4| pages=14–18}}</ref> Several whales tagged between November and January off southern California were killed in the summer off central California, Oregon, British Columbia, and in the Gulf of Alaska.<ref name="rice" /> Fin whales have been observed feeding 250 miles south of Hawaii in mid-May, and several winter sightings have been made there.<ref name="mobley">{{cite journal |last1=Mobley|first1=J.R. Jr. |last2=Smultea|first2=M. |last3=Norris|first3=T. |last4=Weller|first4=D. |name-list-style=amp |year=1996 |title=Fin whale sighting north of Kaua'i, Hawaiʻi |journal=Pacific Science |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=230–233}}</ref> Some researchers have suggested that the whales migrate into Hawaiian waters primarily in the autumn and winter.<ref name="thompson">{{cite journal |last1=Thompson|first1=P.O. |last2=Friedl|first2=W.A. |year=1982 |title=A long term study of low frequency sound from several species of whales off Oahu, Hawaii |journal=Cetology |volume=45 |pages=1–19}}</ref>

Although fin whales are certainly migratory, moving seasonally in and out of high-latitude feeding areas, the overall migration pattern is not well understood. Acoustic readings from passive-listening hydrophone arrays indicate a southward migration of the North Atlantic fin whale occurs in the autumn from the Labrador-Newfoundland region, south past Bermuda, and into the West Indies.<ref name="clark">{{cite journal |author=Clark, C.W. |year=1995 |title=Application of US Navy underwater hydrophone arrays for scientific research on whales |journal=Rep. Int. Whal. Comm. |volume=45 |pages=210–212}}</ref> One or more populations of fin whales are thought to remain year-round in high latitudes, moving offshore, but not southward in late autumn.<ref name="clark" /> A study based on resightings of identified fin whales in Massachusetts Bay indicates that calves often learn migratory routes from their mothers and return to their mother's feeding area in subsequent years.<ref name=clapham>{{cite journal |title=Resightings of Independent Fin Whales, Balaenoptera physalus, on Maternal Summer Ranges |last1=Clapham|first1=Phillip J. |last2=Seipt|first2=Irene E. |date=November 1991 |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=788–790 |jstor=1381844 |doi=10.2307/1381844 |bibcode=1991JMamm..72..788C }}</ref>

In the Pacific, migration patterns are poorly characterized. Although some fin whales are apparently present year-round in the Gulf of California, there is a significant increase in their numbers in the winter and spring.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tershy|first1=B.R. |last2=Breese|first2=D. |last3=Strong|first3=C.S. |name-list-style=amp| year=1990 |chapter=Abundance, seasonal distribution and population composition of balaenopterid whales in the Canal de Ballenas, Gulf of California, Mexico |title=Individual recognition of cetaceans: ... |series=Rep. Int. Whal. Comm. |volume=12| pages=369–375 |isbn=978-0-906975-23-7}}</ref> Southern fin whales migrate seasonally from relatively high-latitude Antarctic feeding grounds in the summer to low-latitude breeding and calving areas in the winter. The location of winter breeding areas is still unknown, since these whales tend to migrate in the open ocean.<ref name="nmfs1">{{cite book |author=National Marine Fisheries Service |year=2006 |title=Draft recovery plan for the fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus'') |publisher=National Marine Fisheries Service |location=Silver Spring, Maryland |url= http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/recovery/draft_finwhale.pdf |access-date=25 October 2006 |archive-date=17 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070417194558/http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/recovery/draft_finwhale.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:CZ Rorcual FinWhale Estrecho Strait Gibraltar.jpg|thumb|right|Fin whale and a boat in the Strait of Gibraltar]]

It has been shown that populations of fin whales within the Mediterranean have preferred feeding locations that partially overlap with high concentrations of plastic pollution and microplastic debris. High concentrations of microplastics most likely overlap with fin whales' preferred feeding grounds because both microplastic and the whale's food sources are near high trophic upwelling areas.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Fossi|first1=Maria Cristina|last2=Romeo|first2=Teresa|last3=Baini|first3=Matteo|last4=Panti|first4=Cristina|last5=Marsili|first5=Letizia|last6=Campani|first6=Tommaso|last7=Canese|first7=Simonepietro|last8=Galgani|first8=François|last9=Druon|first9=Jean-Noël|last10=Airoldi|first10=Sabina|last11=Taddei|first11=Stefano|date=2017|title=Plastic Debris Occurrence, Convergence Areas and Fin Whales Feeding Ground in the Mediterranean Marine Protected Area Pelagos Sanctuary: A Modeling Approach|journal=Frontiers in Marine Science|language=en|volume=4|article-number=167 |doi=10.3389/fmars.2017.00167|bibcode=2017FrMaS...4..167F |issn=2296-7745|doi-access=free|hdl=11365/1008476|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

[[File:Finback Whale Skull San Diego Natural History Museum DSCF1854.jpg|thumb | right| Fin whale skull, San Diego Natural History Museum ]] The total historical North Pacific population was estimated at 42,000 to 45,000 before the start of whaling. Of this, the population in the eastern portion of the North Pacific was estimated to be 25,000 to 27,000.<ref name="ohsumi">{{cite journal | author = Ohsumi, S. |author2=S. Wada | year = 1974 | title = Status of whale stocks in the North Pacific, 1972 | journal = Rep. Int. Whal. Comm. | volume = 24 | pages = 114–126}}</ref> Surveys conducted in 1991, 1993, 1996, and 2001 produced estimates between 1,600 and 3,200 off California and 280 and 380 off Oregon and Washington.<ref name="barlow03">{{cite report | last1= Barlow|first1=J. | year = 2003 | title = Preliminary estimates of the Abundance of Cetaceans along the U.S. West Coast: 1991–2001 | publisher= Administrative report LJ-03-03, available from Southwest Fisheries Science Center, 8604 La Jolla Shores Dr., La Jolla CA 92037 }}</ref> Surveys in coastal waters of British Columbia in summers 2004 and 2005 produced abundance estimates of approximately 500 animals.<ref name="williams">{{cite journal | last1 = Williams|first1=R. | last2 = Thomas|first2=L. | year = 2007 | title = Distribution and abundance of marine mammals in the coastal waters of BC, Canada | journal = Journal of Cetacean Research and Management | volume = 9 | pages = 15–28 | doi = 10.47536/jcrm.v9i1.688 | s2cid = 18834375 | url = http://www.marinemammal.org/MMRU/williams/williams%20thomas%20jcrm%202007%20015-028.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110206045340/http://www.marinemammal.org/mmru/williams/williams%20thomas%20jcrm%202007%20015-028.pdf | archive-date = 2011-02-06 }}</ref> Fin whales might have started returning to the coastal waters off British Columbia (a sighting occurred in Johnstone Strait in 2011<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Towers |first1=Jared R. |last2=Malleson |first2=Mark |last3=McMillan |first3=Christie J. |last4=Cogan |first4=Jane |last5=Berta |first5=Susan |last6=Birdsall |first6=Caitlin |date=March 2018 |title=Occurrence of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) Between Vancouver Island and Continental North America |url=https://bioone.org/journals/northwestern-naturalist/volume-99/issue-1/NWN17-16.1/Occurrence-of-Fin-Whales-Balaenoptera-physalus-Between-Vancouver-Island-and/10.1898/NWN17-16.1.full |journal=Northwestern Naturalist |volume=99 |issue=1 |pages=49–57 |doi=10.1898/NWN17-16.1 |issn=1051-1733|url-access=subscription }}</ref>) and Kodiak Island. Size of the local population migrating to Hawaiian Archipelago is unknown.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mobley |first1=J. R. |last2=Smultea |first2=M. |last3=Norris |first3=T. |last4=Weller |first4=D. |date=April 1996 |title=Fin Whale Sighting North of Kaua'i, Hawaiʻi |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/29737686 |journal=Pac Sci |language=en-US |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=230–233 |issn=0030-8870}}</ref>

Finbacks are also relatively abundant along the coast of Peru and Chile (in Chile, most notably off Los Lagos region such as Gulf of Corcovado<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fin whale |url=https://www.ocean-sounds.org/en_US/whales-in-patagonia/marine-mammals-in-patagonia/fin-whale/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413020228/http://ocean-sounds.org/en_US/whales-in-patagonia/marine-mammals-in-patagonia/fin-whale/ |archive-date=2016-04-13 |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=ocean-sounds.org}}</ref> in Chiloé National Park, {{ill|Punta de Choros|es|Punta de Choros|vertical-align=sup}},<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Toro|first1=F.|last2=Vilina|first2=A.Y.|last3=Capella|first3=J.J.|last4=Gibbons|first4=J.|title=Novel Coastal Feeding Area for Eastern South Pacific Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in Mid-Latitude Humboldt Current Waters off Chile|url=http://www.aquaticmammalsjournal.org/attachments/article/1408/AM%2042.1%20Toro%20et%20al.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419224000/http://www.aquaticmammalsjournal.org/attachments/article/1408/AM%2042.1%20Toro%20et%20al.pdf|archive-date=2016-04-19|journal=Aquatic Mammals|year=2016|volume=42|issue=1|doi=10.1578/AM.42.1.2016.47|pages=47–55|bibcode=2016AqMam..42...47T |access-date=2016-03-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://tanyadimitrova.blogspot.jp/2010/10/bicentinario-chile.html|title=Bicentinario Chile|website=tanyadimitrova.blogspot.jp|access-date=31 March 2016|archive-date=15 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415012723/http://tanyadimitrova.blogspot.jp/2010/10/bicentinario-chile.html|url-status=live}}</ref> port of Mejillones,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pacheco|first1=S.A.|last2=Villegas|first2=K.V.|last3=Riascos|first3=M.J.|last4=Waerebeek|first4=V.K.|year=2015|title=Presence of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in Mejillones Bay, a major seaport area in northern Chile|url=http://docplayer.net/6488174-Presence-of-fin-whales-balaenoptera-physalus-in-mejillones-bay-a-major-seaport-area-in-northern-chile.html|journal=Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía|volume=50|issue=2|doi=10.4067/S0718-19572015000300017|pages=383–389|access-date=2016-03-31|doi-access=free|archive-date=13 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413001749/http://docplayer.net/6488174-Presence-of-fin-whales-balaenoptera-physalus-in-mejillones-bay-a-major-seaport-area-in-northern-chile.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Pacheco|first1=S.A. |last2= Villegas|first2=K.V. |last3= Riascos|first3=M.J. |last4= Waerebeek|first4=V.K. |year=2015 |title= Presence of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in Mejillones Bay, a major seaport area in northern Chile |journal= Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía |volume=50 |issue=2 |doi= 10.4067/S0718-19572015000300017 |pages= 383–389 |doi-access= free }}</ref> and Caleta Zorra. Year-round confirmations indicate possible residents off pelagic north eastern to central Chile such as around coastal Caleta Chañaral and Pingüino de Humboldt National Reserve, east of Juan Fernández Islands, and northeast of Easter Island and possible wintering ground exist for eastern south Pacific population.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Acevedo|first1=J.|last2=O'Grady|first2=M.|last3=Wallis|first3=B.|year=2012|title=Sighting of the fin whale in the Eastern Subtropical South Pacific: Potential breeding ground?|url=http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=47925145017|journal=Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía|volume=47|issue=3|pages=559–563|access-date=2016-03-31|doi=10.4067/s0718-19572012000300017|doi-access=free|archive-date=13 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413234108/http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=47925145017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Among Northern Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, such as along Sri Lanka, India, and Malaysia, sightings and older records of fin whales exist.<ref>Sathasivam K.. 2015. [https://www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/mar/ebsaws-2015-01/other/ebsaws-2015-01-gobi-submission5-en.pdf A CATALOGUE OF INDIAN MARINE MAMMAL RECORDS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224215612/https://www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/mar/ebsaws-2015-01/other/ebsaws-2015-01-gobi-submission5-en.pdf |date=24 February 2017 }} (pdf)</ref><ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021"/><ref>Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center – [http://www.seafdec.org/myanmar/ List of Protected Aquatic Species in Myanmar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225214832/http://www.seafdec.org/myanmar/ |date=25 February 2017 }}</ref>

=== Predation === The only known predator of the fin whale is the killer whale, with at least 20 eyewitness and second-hand accounts of attack or harassment. They usually flee and offer little resistance to attack. Only a few confirmed fatalities have occurred. In October 2005, 16 killer whales attacked and killed a fin whale in the Canal de Ballenas, Gulf of California, after chasing it for about an hour. They fed on its sinking carcass for about 15 minutes before leaving the area. In June 2012, a pod of orcas were observed chasing a {{cvt|50|ft|order=flip|sp=us}} long fin whale for over an hour in La Paz Bay in the Gulf of California before eventually killing it and eating its carcass. The whale bore numerous tooth rakes over its back and dorsal fin; several killer whales flanked it on either side, with one individual visible under water biting at its right lower jaw.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2013/07/orcas-attack-kill-large-fin-whale-off-la-paz-rare-footage.html|title=Orcas attack, kill large fin whale off La Paz (rare footage)|website=Pete Thomas Outdoors|access-date=20 October 2021|archive-date=18 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118230557/https://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2013/07/orcas-attack-kill-large-fin-whale-off-la-paz-rare-footage.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In January 2019, a pod of killer whales chased and attacked a {{cvt|21|m}} long adult fin whale in San Luis Gonzaga Bay in the Gulf of California. The fin whale responded by slapping its tail against the killer whale, and the whale was eventually found stranded on a beach and later seen dead as the tide went out.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pitman |first1=Robert L. |title=Records of Fatal Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Attacks on Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) with an Emphasis on Baja California, Mexico |journal=Aquatic Mammals |date=2023 |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=195–207 |url=https://voiceofsandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Pitman-et-al.-202331.pdf |doi=10.1578/AM.49.2.2023.195 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023AqMam..49..195P }}</ref> The 2025 study included an {{cvt|18|m}} long adult male and an immature female among the stranded Fin whale individuals, presumed to have been eaten by orcas.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gallo-Reynoso |first1=Juan-Pablo |last2=Barba-Acuña |first2=Isai-David |last3=Guerrero-Ruiz |first3=Mercedes-Eugenia |last4=Mellink |first4=Eric |last5=Egido-Villarreal |first5=Janitzio |last6=Flores-Morán |first6=Adriana-Estefanía |last7=Pérez-Puig |first7=Hector |title=Killer whales (Orcinus orca) predation on mysticetes in the Gulf of California, Mexico |journal=Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals |date=October 2025 |volume=20 |issue=2 |article-number=2 |doi=10.5597/lajam00360 |s2cid=282729857 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397131492 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In July 1908, a whaler reportedly saw two killer whales attack and kill a fin whale off western Greenland. In January 1984, seven were seen from the air circling, holding the flippers, and ramming a fin whale in the Gulf of California, but the observation ended at nightfall.<ref name="Jefferson et al 1991">{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2907.1991.tb00291.x|last1=Jefferson|first1=T. A.|last2=Stacey|first2=P. J.|last3=Baird|first3=R. W.|year=1991|url=http://swfsc.noaa.gov/uploadedFiles/Divisions/PRD/Publications/Jeffersonetal.1991(8).pdf|title=A review of killer whale interactions with other marine mammals: predation to co-existence|journal=Mammal Review|volume=21|pages=151–180|issue=4|bibcode=1991MamRv..21..151J|access-date=11 February 2012|archive-date=30 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930034939/http://swfsc.noaa.gov/uploadedFiles/Divisions/PRD/Publications/Jeffersonetal.1991(8).pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Ford | first1 = John K. B.| last2 = Reeves | first2 = Randall R.| year = 2008 | title = Fight or flight: Antipredator strategies of baleen whales | journal = Mammal Review | volume = 38 | issue = 1| pages = 50–86 | doi=10.1111/j.1365-2907.2008.00118.x| bibcode = 2008MamRv..38...50F| citeseerx = 10.1.1.573.6671}}</ref>

The fin whale is a filter-feeder, feeding on small schooling fish, squid and crustaceans including copepods and krill. In the North Pacific, they feed on krill in the genera ''Euphausia'', ''Thysanoessa'', and ''Nyctiphanes'', large copepods in the genus ''Neocalanus'', small schooling fish (e.g. the genera ''Engraulis'', ''Mallotus'', ''Clupea'', and ''Theragra''), and squid. Based on stomach content analysis of over 19,500 fin whales caught by the Japanese whaling fleet in the North Pacific from 1952 to 1971, 64.1% contained only krill, 25.5% copepods, 5.0% fish, 3.4% krill and copepods and 1.7% squid.<ref name="nemotokawamura1977">{{cite journal | last1 = Nemoto|first1=T. |first2=A.|last2=Kawamura |year = 1977 |title = Characteristics of food habits and distribution of baleen whales with special reference to the abundance of North Pacific sei and Bryde's whales | journal = Rep. Int. Whal. Comm. |volume = Spec. Iss. 1 |pages =80–87}}</ref> Nemoto (1959) analyzed the stomach contents of about 7500 fin whales caught in the northern North Pacific and Bering Sea from 1952 to 1958, found that they mainly preyed on euphausiids around the Aleutian Islands and in the Gulf of Alaska and schooling fish in the northern Bering Sea and off Kamchatka.<ref name=Mizroch2009>Mizroch, S. A., Rice, D. W., Zwiefelhofer, D., Waite, J., and Perryman, W. L. (2009). "Distribution and movements of fin whales in the North Pacific Ocean". ''Mammal Rev''. (39) 193–227.</ref>

Of the fin whale stomachs sampled off British Columbia between 1963 and 1967, euphausiids dominated the diet for four of the five years (82.3 to 100% of the diet), while copepods only formed a major portion of the diet in 1965 (35.7%). Miscellaneous fish, squid, and octopus played only a very minor part of the diet in two of the five years (3.6 to 4.8%).<ref name=Flynn2002>{{cite journal | last1 = Flinn | first1 = R.D. | last2 = Trites | first2 = A.W. | last3 = Gregr | first3 = E. J. | last4 = Perry | first4 = R. I. | year = 2002 | title = Diets of fin, sei, and sperm whales in British Columbia: an analysis of commercial whaling records, 1963–1967 | journal = Mar Mam. Sci | volume = 18 | issue = 3| pages = 663–679 | doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.2002.tb01065.x| bibcode = 2002MMamS..18..663F }}</ref> Fin whales caught off California between 1959 and 1970 fed on the pelagic euphausiid ''Euphausia pacifica'' (86% of sampled individuals), the more neritic euphausiid ''Thysanoessa spinifera'' (9%), and the northern anchovy (''Engraulis mordax'') (7%); only trace amounts (<0.5% each) were found of Pacific saury (''C. saira'') and juvenile rockfish (''Sebastes jordani'').<ref name="rice77">{{cite journal | author = Rice, D.W. | year = 1977 | title = Synopsis of biological data on the sei whale and Bryde's whale in the eastern North Pacific | journal = Rep. Int. Whal. Comm. | volume = Spec. Iss. 1 | pages = 92–97}}</ref>

In the North Atlantic, they prey on euphausiids in the genera ''Meganyctiphanes'', ''Thysanoessa'' and ''Nyctiphanes'' and small schooling fish (e.g. the genera ''Clupea'', ''Mallotus'', and ''Ammodytes''). Of the 1,609 fin whale stomachs examined at the Hvalfjörður whaling station in southwestern Iceland from 1967 to 1989 (caught between June and September), 96% contained only krill, 2.5% krill and fish, 0.8% some fish remains, 0.7% capelin (''M. villosus''), and 0.1% sandeel (family Ammodytidae); a small proportion of (mainly juvenile) blue whiting (''Micromesistius poutassou'') were also found. Of the krill sampled between 1979 and 1989, the vast majority (over 99%) was northern krill (''Meganyctiphanes norvegica''); only one stomach contained ''Thysanoessa longicaudata''.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Sigurjónsson | first1 = J. | last2 = Víkingsson | first2 = G. A. | year = 1997 | title = Seasonal abundance of and estimated food consumption by cetaceans in Icelandic and adjacent waters | journal = Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science| volume = 22 | pages = 271–287 | doi=10.2960/j.v22.a20| doi-access = free }}</ref> Off West Greenland, 75% of the fin whales caught between July and October had consumed krill (family Euphausiidae), 17% capelin (''Mallotus'') and 8% sand lance (''Ammodytes sp.''). A study on the ecological niches of fin whales in Icelandic waters using stable isotopes showed that the fin whale has a strong overlap in diet and distribution with the blue whale and also partially competes for food with the humpback, sei, and minke whales.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=García-Vernet |first1=Raquel |last2=Borrell |first2=Asunción |last3=Víkingsson |first3=Gísli |last4=Halldórsson |first4=Sverrir D. |last5=Aguilar |first5=Alex |date=2021-12-01 |title=Ecological niche partitioning between baleen whales inhabiting Icelandic waters |journal=Progress in Oceanography |volume=199 |article-number=102690 |doi=10.1016/j.pocean.2021.102690 |issn=0079-6611|doi-access=free |bibcode=2021PrOce.19902690G |hdl=2445/184348 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Off eastern Newfoundland, they chiefly feed on capelin, but also take small quantities of euphausiids (mostly ''T. raschii'' and ''T. inermis'').<ref name="sergeant">{{cite journal |first1=D.E.|last1=Sergeant |year=1977 |title=Stocks of fin whales ''Balaenoptera physalus''L. in the North Atlantic Ocean |journal=Rep. Int. Whal. Comm. |volume=27 |pages=460–473}}</ref> In the Ligurian-Corsican-Provençal Basin in the Mediterranean Sea they make dives as deep as {{cvt|34|-|184|m}} to feed on the euphausiid ''Meganyctiphanes norvegica'', while off the island of Lampedusa, between Tunisia and Sicily, they have been observed in mid-winter feeding on surface swarms of the small euphausiid ''Nyctiphanes couchi''.<ref>{{cite journal| last1 = Canese | first1 = S. | last2 = Cardinali | first2 = A. | last3 = Fortuna | first3 = C. M. | last4 = Giusti | first4 = M. | last5 = Lauriano | first5 = G. | last6 = Salvati | first6 = E. | last7 = Greco | first7 = Silvestro | year = 2006 | title = The first identified winter feeding ground of fin whales (''Balaenoptera physalus'') in the Mediterranean Sea | journal = J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U. K. | volume = 86 | issue = 4| pages = 903–907 | doi=10.1017/s0025315406013853 | bibcode = 2006JMBUK..86..903C | s2cid = 86166076 | display-authors = 5 | url = https://www.academia.edu/3594912/ }}</ref>

In the Southern Hemisphere, they feed almost exclusively on euphausiids (mainly the genera ''Euphausia'' and ''Thysanoessa''), as well as taking small amounts of amphipods (e.g. ''Themisto gaudichaudii'') and various species of fish. Of the more than 16,000 fin whales caught by the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Hemisphere between 1961 and 1965 that contained food in their stomachs, 99.4% fed on euphausiids, 0.5% on fish, and 0.1% on amphipods.<ref name="nemotokawamura1977" /> In the Southern Ocean they mainly consume ''E. superba''.<ref name="nmfs2">{{cite book |last1= Reeves|first1=R. |first2 = G.|last2=Silber | first3 = M.|last3=Payne | name-list-style = amp | title = Draft Recovery Plan for the Fin Whale ''Balaenoptera physalus'' and Sei Whale ''Balaenoptera borealis'' | publisher = National Marine Fisheries Service | date = July 1998 | location = Silver Spring, Maryland | url = http://www.cresli.org/cresli/pdf%20documents/finwhale.pdf | access-date = 26 April 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204014/http://www.cresli.org/cresli/pdf%20documents/finwhale.pdf | archive-date = 3 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/biologyofmarinem0000unse_d7r3 |title=Biology of marine mammals |date=1999 |publisher=Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press |via=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-56098-375-0 |pages=423–450}}</ref><ref name="mfr">{{cite journal |first1=S.L.|last1=Perry |first2=D.P.|last2=DeMaster |first3=G.K.|last3=Silber | name-list-style = amp | year = 1999 | title = Special Issue: The Great Whales: History and Status of Six Species Listed as Endangered Under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973 | journal = Marine Fisheries Review | volume = 61 | issue = 1 | url = http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/mfr611/mfr611.htm | pages = 52–58 | access-date = 26 April 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110721055959/http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/mfr611/mfr611.htm | archive-date = 21 July 2011 }}</ref>

The animal feeds by opening its jaws while swimming at some {{cvt|11|km/h}} in one study,<ref name="ubc07">{{cite web | url = http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports/2007/07jun07/whale.html | date = 7 June 2007 | publisher = University of British Columbia | title = Whale Has Super-sized Big Gulp | author = Lin, Brian | access-date = 8 June 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070615142222/http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports/2007/07jun07/whale.html | archive-date = 15 June 2007 }}</ref> which causes it to engulf up to {{cvt|70|m3|USgal impgal|-3}} of water in one gulp. It then closes its jaws and pushes the water back out of its mouth through its baleen, which allows the water to leave while trapping the prey. An adult has between 262 and 473 baleen plates on each side of the mouth. Each plate is made of keratin that frays out into fine hairs on the ends inside the mouth near the tongue. Each plate can measure up to {{cvt|70|-|76|cm}} in length and {{cvt|30|cm}} in width.<ref name="marinebio">{{cite web |url=http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=40 |title=''Balaenoptera physalus'' Fin Whale |publisher=MarineBio.org |access-date=23 October 2006 |archive-url=https://www.marinebio.org/species/fin-whales/balaenoptera-physalus/ |archive-date=5 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="EOMM" />

The whale routinely dives to depths of more than {{cvt|200|m}} where it executes an average of four "lunges", to accumulate krill. Each gulp provides the whale with approximately {{cvt|10|kg}} of food.<ref name="ubc07" /> One whale can consume up to {{cvt|1800|kg}} of food a day,<ref name="marinebio" /> leading scientists to conclude that the whale spends about three hours a day feeding to meet its energy requirements, roughly the same as humans. If prey ''patches'' are not sufficiently dense, or are located too deep in the water, the whale has to spend a larger portion of its day searching for food.<ref name="ubc07" /> One hunting technique is to circle schools of fish at high speed, frightening the fish into a tight ball, then turning on its side before engulfing the massed prey.<ref name="marinebio" />

=== Parasites, epibiotics, and pathology === Fin whales are exposed to a variety of epibionts and parasites.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ten |first1=S. |last2=Raga |first2=J. A. |last3=Aznar |first3=F. J. |date=2022-07-22 |title=Epibiotic Fauna on Cetaceans Worldwide: A Systematic Review of Records and Indicator Potential |journal=Frontiers in Marine Science |volume=9 |article-number=846558 |doi=10.3389/fmars.2022.846558 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2022FrMaS...946558T |issn=2296-7745}}</ref> The parasitic copepod ''Pennella balaenopterae''—usually found on the flank of fin whales—burrows into their blubber to feed on their blood,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Çíçek|first1=E.|last2=Öktener|first2=A.|last3=Çapar|first3=O. B.|title=First Report of ''Pennella balaenopterae'' Koren and Danielssen, 1877 (Copepoda: Pennelidae) from Turkey|journal=Türkiye Parazitoloji Dergisi (Turkish Journal of Parasitology)|volume=31|issue=3|pages=239–241|year=2007|url=http://www.turkiyeparazitolderg.org/sayilar/23/buyuk/pdf_TPD_2851.pdf|pmid=17918069|access-date=11 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402114858/http://www.turkiyeparazitolderg.org/sayilar/23/buyuk/pdf_TPD_2851.pdf|archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref> while the pseudo-stalked barnacle ''Xenobalanus globicipitis'' is generally found more often on the dorsal fin, pectoral fins, and flukes.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://fishbull.noaa.gov/901/rajaguru.pdf|title=Association between the sessile barnacle ''Xenobalanus globiclpitis'' (Coronulidae) and the bottlenose dolphin ''Tursiops truncatus'' (Delphinidae) from the Bay of Bengal, India, with a summary of previous records from cetaceans|last1=Rajaguru|first1=A.|last2=Shantha|first2=G.|journal=Fishery Bulletin|volume=90|pages=197–202|year=1992|access-date=11 March 2015|archive-date=17 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717041457/http://fishbull.noaa.gov/901/rajaguru.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Other barnacles found on fin whales include the acorn barnacle ''Coronula reginae'' and the stalked barnacle ''Conchoderma auritum'', which attaches to ''Coronula'' or the baleen. The harpacticid copepod ''Balaenophilus unisetus'' (heavy infestations of which have been found in fin whales caught off northwestern Spain) and the ciliate ''Haematophagus'' also infest the baleen, the former feeding on the baleen itself and the latter on red blood cells.<ref name="Mac1943">{{cite journal| last1=Mackintosh| first1=N. A.| year=1943| title=The southern stocks of whalebone whales| journal=Discovery Reports |volume=XXII| issue=3889| pages=199–300| bibcode=1944Natur.153..569F| doi=10.1038/153569a0| s2cid=41590649}}</ref>

The remora ''Remora australis'' and occasionally the amphipod ''Cyamus balaenopterae'' can also be found on fin whales, both feeding on the skin. Infestations of the giant nematode ''Crassicauda boopis'' can cause inflammation of the renal arteries and potential kidney failure, while the smaller ''C. crassicauda'' infects the lower urinary tract.<ref name="mizroch">{{cite journal |last1 = Mizroch|first1=S.A. |first2 = D.W.|last2=Rice |first3 = J.M.|last3=Breiwick | name-list-style = amp | year = 1984 | title = The fin whale, ''Balaenoptera physalus''| journal = Mar Fish. Review | volume = 46 | pages = 20–24}}</ref> Out of 87 whales taken and necropsied from the North Atlantic, infection from ''Crassicauda'' ''boopis'' was found to be very prevalent and invasive, indicating high probability that it was responsible for causing death in these whales.<ref name="lambertsen">{{Cite journal |last=Lambertsen |first=Richard H. |date=1986-05-15 |title=Disease of the Common Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus): Crassicaudiosis of the Urinary System |url=https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/67/2/353/861595 |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |language=en |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=353–366 |doi=10.2307/1380889 |issn=0022-2372 |jstor=1380889|url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''C. boopis'' was found in 94% of the whales examined. The worms were usually enveloped by "exuberant tissue reactions which in some whales obstructed multiple renal veins". The parasite was most likely by environmental contamination, involving shedding of larvae in urine. Major inflammatory lesions in the mesenteric arteries suggested that the worm larvae were ingested and migrated to the kidney.<ref name="lambertsen" />

These observations suggest that infection from ''C. boopis'' can be "lethal by inducing congestive renal failure". Injury to the vascular system is also a result of moderate infections. Therefore, the implication can be made that the feeding migration of fin whales every year in circumpolar waters can be associated with pathologic risk.<ref name="lambertsen" />

An emaciated {{cvt|13|m}} female fin whale, which stranded along the Belgian coast in 1997, was found to be infected with lesions of ''Morbillivirus''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jauniaux |first1=T. |last2=Charlier |first2=G. |last3=Desmecht |first3=M. |last4=Coignoui |first4=F. |year=1998 |title=Lesions of morbillivirus infection in a fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus'') stranded along the Belgian coast |url=http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/handle/2268/77383 |journal=Veterinary Record |volume=143 |issue=15 |pages=423–424 |doi=10.1136/vr.143.15.423 |pmid=9807793 |hdl=2268/77383 |s2cid=30378912 |access-date=9 November 2018 |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020014907/https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/77383 |url-status=live}}</ref> In January 2011, a {{cvt|16.7|m}} emaciated adult male fin whale stranded dead on the Tyrrhenian coastline of Italy was found to be infected with ''Morbillivirus'' and the protozoa ''Toxoplasma gondii'', as well as carrying heavy loads of organochlorine pollutants.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Mazzariol |first1=Sandro |last2=Marcer |first2=Federica |last3=Mignone |first3=Walter |last4=Serracca |first4=Laura |last5=Goria |first5=Mariella |last6=Marsili |first6=Letizia |last7=Giovanni |first7=Giovanni| last8=Guardo |first8=Di |last9=Casalone |first9=Cristina |display-authors=etal |year=2012 |title=Dolphin ''Morbillivirus'' and ''Toxoplasma gondii'' coinfection in a Mediterranean fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus'') |journal=BMC Veterinary Research |volume=8 |issue=1| page=20 |pmid=22397492 |pmc=3319419 |doi=10.1186/1746-6148-8-20 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Human interaction ==

=== Whaling === {{See also|Whaling|History of whaling}} [[File:Captured fin whale.jpg|thumb|A {{cvt|65|LT|MT|abbr=on|adj=on}}, {{cvt|72|ft}} fin whale caught at Grays Harbor c. 1912|alt=Photo of whale on flensing platform with man standing in its opened mouth]] [[File:Balaenoptera physalus1.jpg|thumb|"The Finback" (''Balaenoptera velifera'', Cope) from Charles Melville Scammon's ''Marine Mammals of the North-western coast of North America'' (1874)]]

In the 19th century, the fin whale was occasionally hunted by open-boat whalers, but it was relatively safe, because it could easily outrun ships of the time and often sank when killed, making the pursuit a waste of time for whalers. However, the later introduction of steam-powered boats and harpoons that exploded on impact made it possible to kill and secure them along with blue and sei whales on an industrial scale. As other whale species became overhunted, the whaling industry turned to the still-abundant fin whale as a substitute.<ref name="acs">{{cite web| url=http://acsonline.org/fact-sheets/fin-whale/| title=American Cetacean Society Fact Sheet: Fin Whale, ''Balaenoptera physalus''| publisher=American Cetacean Society| access-date=12 March 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424175802/http://acsonline.org/fact-sheets/fin-whale/| archive-date=24 April 2013}}</ref> It was primarily hunted for its blubber, oil, and baleen. Around 704,000 fin whales were caught in Antarctic whaling operations alone between 1904 and 1975.<ref name="IWC90">{{cite journal | author=International Whaling Commission| journal= Report of the International Whaling Commission|title=Report of the scientific committee |volume=45 |year=1995 |pages=53–221}}</ref>

The introduction of factory ships with stern slipways in 1925 substantially increased the number of whales taken per year. During the 20th century, fin whales were a major target of whaling worldwide. In total, some 874,000 individuals were captured, of which 726,000 were in the southern hemisphere, 75,000 in the North Pacific and 72,000 in the North Atlantic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rocha, Jr. |first1=Robert C. |last2=Clapham |first2=Phillip J. |last3=Ivashchenko |first3=Yulia |date=2015-03-03 |title=Emptying the Oceans: A Summary of Industrial Whaling Catches in the 20th Century |url=http://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/mfr764/mfr7643.pdf |journal=Marine Fisheries Review |volume=76 |issue=4 |pages=37–48 |doi=10.7755/MFR.76.4.3 |doi-broken-date=19 May 2026 }}</ref> In the 1960s fin whales became scarce and were partially substituted in the catch by sei whales.<ref name="barlow97">{{cite report |last1=Barlow|first1=J. |last2=Forney|first2=K.A. |last3=Hill|first3=P.S. |last4=Brownell|first4=R.L. Jr. |last5=Caretta|first5=J.V. |last6=DeMaster|first6=D.P. |last7=Julian|first7=F. |last8=Lowry|first8=M.S. |last9=Ragen|first9=T. |last10=Reeves|first10=R.R. |name-list-style=amp |year=1997 |title=U.S. Pacific Marine Mammal Stock Assessments: 1996 |publisher=NOAA Technical Memo NMFD-SWFSC-248 |url=http://swfsc.noaa.gov/publications/TM/SWFSC/NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-248.PDF |access-date=1 November 2006 |archive-date=8 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008175256/http://swfsc.noaa.gov/publications/TM/SWFSC/NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-248.PDF |url-status=live}}</ref> In the North Pacific, Japan took 300 to 400 fin whales per year in the Sea of Japan and East China Sea in the 1910s and 100 to 200 per year in the 1920s. After World War II, Korean whaling companies began hunting fin whales in these waters, and China and North Korea may have joined the hunt, but by the 1960s, the number of whales caught declined sharply due to population decline, and minke whales became the primary target in these waters.<ref name=JMOE1998>{{cite journal |year=1998|title=海域自然環境保全基礎調査 – 海棲動物調査報告書, (2)一40ナガスクジラ Balaenoptera physalus (Li㎜aeus,1758) ナガスクジラ科|url=http://www.biodic.go.jp/reports2/5th/kaisei_h10/5_kaisei_h10.pdf|page=75|journal=自然環境保全基礎調査|access-date=2015-01-16|archive-date=17 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717041428/http://www.biodic.go.jp/reports2/5th/kaisei_h10/5_kaisei_h10.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ishikawa|first1=H.|last2=Watanabe|first2=T.|year=2014|title=A catalogue of whales and dolphins recorded in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan|url=http://whalelab.org/ishikawa2014.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109080006/http://whalelab.org/ishikawa2014.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=9 January 2015|page=5|journal=下関鯨類研究室報告 |issue=2 |access-date=9 January 2015}}</ref> In the North Atlantic, the species was caught off Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Canada (Newfoundland), the U. K., Portugal, Spain and Greenland, but most operations closed down in the 1960s-1970s and, when the moratorium on commercial whaling came into force, only Spain and Iceland were still exploiting the species. Afterwards, fin whaling has only continued active in Iceland and, at very low numbers, in Greenland.

The IWC prohibited hunting in the Southern Hemisphere in 1976.<ref name="IWC90" /> The Soviet Union engaged in the illegal killing of protected whale species in the North Pacific and Southern Hemisphere, over-reporting fin whale catches to cover up illegal takes of other species.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clapham |first1=P. J. |last2=Baker |first2=C. Scott |year=2008 |title=Reported vs. Actual Catches by the U.S.S.R. in the Southern Hemisphere, 1948–73. Appendix II in Berzin, A. A.; trans. by Y. V. Ivashchenko. "The Truth About Soviet Whaling" |journal=Marine Fisheries Review |volume=70 |issue=2| pages=4–59}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clapham |first1=P.J. |last2=Brownell |first2=R. L. Jr. |year=2008 |title=Soviet catches of large whales in the North Pacific, 1961–79. Appendix III in Berzin, A. A.; trans. by Y. V. Ivashchenko "The Truth About Soviet Whaling" |journal=Marine Fisheries Review |volume=70 |issue=2| pages=4–59}}</ref><ref name="yablokov">{{cite journal |author=Yablokov, A.V. |year=1994 |title=Validity of whaling data |journal=Nature |volume=367 |page=108 |doi=10.1038/367108a0 |issue=6459 |bibcode=1994Natur.367..108Y |s2cid=4358731 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The fin whale was given full protection from commercial whaling by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in the North Pacific in 1976. In 1982 the IWC adopted the moratorium on commercial whaling, which came into force in 1986,<ref name="Commercial Whaling">{{Cite web |title=Commercial Whaling |url=https://iwc.int/management-and-conservation/whaling/commercial |access-date=2026-03-13 |website=iwc.int |language=en}}</ref> with small exceptions for aboriginal catches and catches for research purposes.<ref name="ADW" /> Under this scheme, the IWC has set a quota of 19 fin whales per year for Greenland. Meat and other products from whales killed in these hunts are widely marketed within Greenland, but export is illegal. With respect to commercial whaling, the moratorium led to the closure of many whaling operations worldwide and marked the end of fin whale hunting by Spain.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Aguilar |first=Alex |title=Chimán: la pesca ballenera moderna en la Península Ibérica |date=2013 |publisher=Universitat de Barcelona |isbn=978-84-475-3763-1 |location=Barcelona}}</ref> However, arguing that the measure had been approved as a temporary measure of only five years and lacked a robust scientific basis, Iceland lodged a reservation to the moratorium and has continued to hunt fin whales under national quotas to this day.<ref name="Total Catches">{{Cite web |title=Total Catches |url=https://iwc.int/management-and-conservation/whaling/total-catches |access-date=2026-03-13 |website=iwc.int |language=en}}</ref> In the Southern Hemisphere, Japan permitted took a total of 18 fin whales under its Antarctic Special Permit whaling program during the period 1005–2011.<ref name="Total Catches"/> Afterwards, and for reasons similar to those given by Iceland, Japan withdrew from the IWC in 2019<ref name="Commercial Whaling"/> and resumed fin whale hunting in the North Pacific, taking 30 whales in 2024.<ref name="Total Catches"/>

=== Effects of pollution === Fin whales typically live far offshore and occupy the lower levels of the food web, thus avoiding the biomagnification of chemical pollutants.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aguilar, A.; Borrell, A. & Pastor, T. |title=Biological factors affecting variability of persistent pollutant levels in cetaceans. |url=https://journal.iwc.int/index.php/jcrm/issue/view/19 |language= |doi=10.47536/jcrm.v1i1|url-access=subscription |journal=Journal of Cetacean Research and Management|volume=Special Issue 1|pages=83–116|year=1999}}</ref> As a result, the concentration of chemical pollutants in their tissues are generally low compared to other cetaceans. However, organochlorine pollutants, such as DDTs and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), have been detected in measurable concentrations in their blubber, muscle and liver. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that these compounds cross the placental barrier, reaching the fetus, and are transmitted through lactation, thus raising concern about their potential impact on reproduction.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aguilar, A. & Borrell, A. |year=1988 |title=Age and sex related changes in organochlorine compound levels in fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) from the eastern North Atlantic. |journal=Marine Environmental Research. |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=195–211 |doi=10.1016/0141-1136(88)90003-7 |bibcode=1988MarER..25..195A }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aguilar, A. & Borrell, A. |year=1994 |title=Reproductive transfer and variation of body load of organochlorine pollutants with age in fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus). |journal=Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=546–554 |doi=10.1007/BF00214848 |pmid=7811111 |bibcode=1994ArECT..27..546A }}</ref> In recent years, ecotoxicological studies on this species have mostly focused on novel contaminants such as organophosphates,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Garcia-Garin |first1=Odei |last2=Sala |first2=Berta |last3=Aguilar |first3=Alex |last4=Vighi |first4=Morgana |last5=Víkingsson |first5=Gísli A. |last6=Chosson |first6=Valerie |last7=Eljarrat |first7=Ethel |last8=Borrell |first8=Asunción |date=2020-06-15 |title=Organophosphate contaminants in North Atlantic fin whales |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720312791 |journal=Science of the Total Environment |volume=721 |article-number=137768 |doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137768 |pmid=32197282 |bibcode=2020ScTEn.72137768G |issn=0048-9697|url-access=subscription }}</ref> flame retardants, and phthalates and other plasticizers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Garcia-Garin |first1=Odei |last2=Sahyoun |first2=Wissam |last3=Net |first3=Sopheak |last4=Vighi |first4=Morgana |last5=Aguilar |first5=Alex |last6=Ouddane |first6=Baghdad |last7=Víkingsson |first7=Gísli A. |last8=Chosson |first8=Valerie |last9=Borrell |first9=Asunción |date=August 2022 |title=Intrapopulation and temporal differences of phthalate concentrations in North Atlantic fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) |journal=Chemosphere |language=en |volume=300 |article-number=134453 |doi=10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134453|doi-access=free |pmid=35390406 |bibcode=2022Chmsp.30034453G |hdl=2445/213861 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sala |first1=Berta |last2=Garcia-Garin |first2=Odei |last3=Borrell |first3=Asunción |last4=Aguilar |first4=Alex |last5=Víkingsson |first5=Gísli A. |last6=Eljarrat |first6=Ethel |date=November 2022 |title=Transplacental transfer of plasticizers and flame retardants in fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) from the North Atlantic Ocean |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0269749122013823 |journal=Environmental Pollution |language=en |volume=313 |article-number=120168 |doi=10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120168|pmid=36115483 |bibcode=2022EPoll.31320168S |hdl=10261/281391 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Also, and considering that this is a filter-feeding species, research has addressed the potential impact of microplastics on the various populations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Garcia-Garin |first1=Odei |last2=Aguilar |first2=Alex |last3=Vighi |first3=Morgana |last4=Víkingsson |first4=Gísli A. |last5=Chosson |first5=Valérie |last6=Borrell |first6=Asunción |date=2021-09-01 |title=Ingestion of synthetic particles by fin whales feeding off western Iceland in summer |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653521010353 |journal=Chemosphere |volume=279 |article-number=130564 |doi=10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130564 |pmid=33895676 |bibcode=2021Chmsp.27930564G |issn=0045-6535|hdl=2445/182373 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fossi |first1=Maria Cristina |last2=Coppola |first2=Daniele |last3=Baini |first3=Matteo |last4=Giannetti |first4=Matteo |last5=Guerranti |first5=Cristiana |last6=Marsili |first6=Letizia |last7=Panti |first7=Cristina |last8=de Sabata |first8=Eleonora |last9=Clò |first9=Simona |date=2014-09-01 |title=Large filter feeding marine organisms as indicators of microplastic in the pelagic environment: The case studies of the Mediterranean basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) and fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141113614000373 |journal=Marine Environmental Research |series=Large marine vertebrates as sentinels of GES in the European MSFD |volume=100 |pages=17–24 |doi=10.1016/j.marenvres.2014.02.002 |pmid=24612776 |bibcode=2014MarER.100...17F |issn=0141-1136|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Ship interaction === Collisions with ships are a major cause of mortality. In some areas, they cause a substantial portion of large whale strandings. Most serious injuries are caused by large, fast-moving ships over or near continental shelves.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Laist|first1=D.W. |last2=Knowlton|first2=A.R. |last3=Mead|first3=J.G. |last4=Collet|first4=A.S. |last5=Podesta|first5=M. |name-list-style=amp |year=2001 |journal=Marine Mammal Science |title=Collisions between ships and whales |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=35–75 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.2001.tb00980.x |bibcode=2001MMamS..17...35L |s2cid=84815248 |url=http://www.nero.noaa.gov/shipstrike/whatsnew/Laist%20et%20al_2001.pdf |access-date=23 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523084216/http://www.nero.noaa.gov/shipstrike/whatsnew/Laist%20et%20al_2001.pdf |archive-date=23 May 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sèbe |first1=Maxime |last2=Kontovas |first2=Christos A. |last3=Pendleton |first3=Linwood |last4=Gourguet |first4=Sophie |date=2022-06-25 |title=Cost-effectiveness of measures to reduce ship strikes: A case study on protecting the Mediterranean fin whale |journal=Science of the Total Environment |volume=827 |article-number=154236 |issn=0048-9697 |doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154236 |doi-access=free |pmid=35245541 |bibcode=2022ScTEn.82754236S}}</ref>

A 60-foot-long fin whale was found stuck on the bow of a container ship in New York harbour on 12 April 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Whale-New-York-Harbor-Bow-of-Ship-Liberty-State-Park-255513431.html |title=Whale Found Dead on Bow of Ship Examined in New Jersey |date=16 April 2014 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=17 April 2014 |archive-date=19 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419013406/http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Whale-New-York-Harbor-Bow-of-Ship-Liberty-State-Park-255513431.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Two dead fin whales, one 65 feet and one 25 feet, were discovered stuck to the Australian destroyer HMAS ''Sydney'' in May 2021 when the ship arrived in Naval Base San Diego.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lendon |first=Brad |date=12 May 2021 |title=Australian destroyer arrived in San Diego with 2 dead endangered whales stuck to its hull |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/12/australia/australia-destroyer-whales-san-diego-intl-hnk-scli-ml/index.html |url-status=live |access-date=2021-05-12 |website=CNN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512221912/https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/12/australia/australia-destroyer-whales-san-diego-intl-hnk-scli-ml/index.html |archive-date=12 May 2021}}</ref>

Ship collisions frequently occur in Tsushima Strait and result in damage done to whales, passengers, and vessels. In response the Japanese Coast Guard has started a surveillance program to monitor large cetacean activity in Tsushima Strait to inform operating vessels in the area.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Japanese Coast Guard |title=Maritime Information and Communication System – 福岡海上保安部 – 海洋生物目撃情報 |url=http://www6.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/07kanku/fukuoka/info/ms/01kujira/top1.html|access-date=11 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111042310/http://www6.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/07kanku/fukuoka/info/ms/01kujira/top1.html |archive-date=11 January 2015}}</ref>

=== Whale watching === [[File:Whale watching Tadoussac 11.jpg|left|200px|thumb|People in a zodiac watching several fin whales off Tadoussac]]

Fin whales are regularly encountered on whale-watching excursions worldwide. In Monterey Bay and the Southern California Bight, fin whales are encountered year-round, with the best sightings between November and March. They can even be seen from land (for example, from Point Vicente, Palos Verdes, where they can be seen lunge feeding at the surface only a half mile to a few miles offshore). They are regularly sighted in the summer and fall in the Gulf of St. Lawrence,<ref>{{cite web |title=Whales Online – Fin whale |url=http://bed2.gremm.org/eng/pag.php?PagRef=3-2-11 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712140059/http://bed2.gremm.org/eng/pag.php?PagRef=3-2-11 |archive-date=12 July 2012}}</ref> the Gulf of Maine, the Bay of Fundy, the Bay of Biscay, Strait of Gibraltar, and the Mediterranean. In southern Ireland, they are seen inshore from June to February, with peak sightings in November and December.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iwdg.ie/species_profiles.asp?speciesID=2104 |title=Irish Whale and Dolphin Group – Fin Whale Species Profile |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220023855/http://www.iwdg.ie/species_profiles.asp?speciesID=2104|archive-date=20 February 2012}}</ref>

=== Conservation === [[File:Israeli-Police-Facebook--Whale-001.jpg|thumb|An immature fin whale in distress off national park of Caesarea Maritima]]

As of 2018, the global fin whale population is estimated to be 100,000–140,000 mature individuals.<ref name=Jefferson/> There are an estimated total of 70,000 individuals in the North Atlantic, 50,000 in the North Pacific, and 25,000 in the Southern Hemisphere.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" />

The fin whale is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" /> They are also included in the Endangered Species Act of 1973.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last1=Southall |first1=Brandon L. |last2=Allen |first2=Ann N. |last3=Calambokidis |first3=John |last4=Casey |first4=Caroline |last5=DeRuiter |first5=Stacy L. |last6=Fregosi |first6=Selene |last7=Friedlaender |first7=Ari S. |last8=Goldbogen |first8=Jeremy A. |last9=Harris |first9=Catriona M. |last10=Hazen |first10=Elliott L. |last11=Popov |first11=Valentin |last12=Stimpert |first12=Alison K. |date=December 2023 |title=Behavioural responses of fin whales to military mid-frequency active sonar |journal=Royal Society Open Science |language=en |volume=10 |issue=12 |article-number=231775 |doi=10.1098/rsos.231775 |doi-access=free|issn=2054-5703 |pmc=10716641 |pmid=38094262|bibcode=2023RSOS...1031775S }}</ref> The fin whale is listed on both Appendix I and Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS),<ref>"[http://www.cms.int/documents/appendix/Appendices_COP9_E.pdf Appendix I and Appendix II] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611112003/http://www.cms.int/documents/appendix/Appendices_COP9_E.pdf |date=11 June 2011 }}" of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). As amended by the Conference of the Parties in 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2008. Effective: 5 March 2009.</ref> and on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).<ref name=CITES/>

They may also become entangled in fishing gear in some rare instances.<ref name="EOMM" /> Military sonar may affect the behavioral patterns of fin whales, which can lead to population decline.<ref name=":3" /> Similarly, whale watching may cause fin whales to alter their behavior and foraging habits.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Santos-Carvallo |first1=Macarena |last2=Barilari |first2=Fernanda |last3=Pérez-Alvarez |first3=María José |last4=Gutiérrez |first4=Laura |last5=Pavez |first5=Guido |last6=Araya |first6=Héctor |last7=Anguita |first7=Cristobal |last8=Cerda |first8=Claudia |last9=Sepúlveda |first9=Maritza |date=2021 |title=Impacts of Whale-Watching on the Short-Term Behavior of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in a Marine Protected Area in the Southeastern Pacific |journal=Frontiers in Marine Science |volume=8 |pages=Abstract |article-number=623954 |doi=10.3389/fmars.2021.623954 |bibcode=2021FrMaS...823954S |doi-access=free |issn=2296-7745}}</ref>

The fin whale is covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS)<ref>{{cite web |title=Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area |url=https://www.accobams.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/ACCOBAMS_Text_Agreement_English.pdf |access-date=2024-01-15 |via=accobams.org}}</ref> and the Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region (Pacific Cetaceans MOU).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pacific Islands Cetaceans {{!}} CMS |url=https://www.cms.int/en/legalinstrument/pacific-islands-cetaceans |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=www.cms.int}}</ref>

== See also == * Baleen whale * Endangered species * List of cetaceans

== References == {{reflist}}

== Further reading == {{Refbegin}} * Peter Saundry. 2011. [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Fin_Whale?topic=49540 ''Fin whale''. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910055406/http://www.eoearth.org/article/Fin_Whale?topic=49540 |date=10 September 2011 }}. C. Michael Hogan Ed. Content partner: Encyclopedia of Life * ''National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World'', Reeves, Stewart, Clapham and Powell, {{ISBN|0-375-41141-0}} * ''Whales & Dolphins Guide to the Biology and Behaviour of Cetaceans'', Maurizio Wurtz and Nadia Repetto. {{ISBN|1-84037-043-2}} *{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gfopb_WsW4YC&dq=info:C4NrWovaqkcJ:scholar.google.com/&pg=RA3-PA20 |title=Marine Fisheries Review |date=1984 |publisher=NMFS, Scientific Publications Office |language=en}} {{Refend}}

== External links == {{Spoken Wikipedia|En-finwhale.ogg|date=2008-01-01}} * [http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/cetaceans/finwhale.htm US National Marine Fisheries Service fin whale web page] * {{Cite web|title=ACCOBAMS|url=https://accobams.org/}} * ARKive – [https://web.archive.org/web/20060426184009/http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Balaenoptera_physalus/ images and videos of the fin whale ''(Balaenoptera physalus)''] * [https://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/listen-to-project-sounds/fin-whales Finback whale sounds] * [https://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhfs/484355054/in/set-72157600209388763/ Photograph of a fin whale underwater] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070916094437/http://www.ryereflections.org/servlet/pluto?state=3030347061676530303757656250616765303032696430303434383135 Photographs of a fin whale breaching] * [http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/cetaceans/about/fin_whale/ World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) – species profile for the fin whale] * [http://cetus.ucsd.edu/voicesinthesea_org/species/baleenWhales/fin.html Voices in the Sea – Sounds of the Fin Whale] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725053855/http://cetus.ucsd.edu/voicesinthesea_org/species/baleenWhales/fin.html |date=25 July 2014 }}

Category:Fin whales Category:Balaenoptera Category:Cosmopolitan mammals Category:EDGE species Category:ESA endangered species Category:Mammals described in 1758 Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus