Comment History
Average southern blue whales are ~24.7 meters long and ~92.7 tonnes in mass according to this paper. IIRC, southern blue whales are a little bit larger than northern ones on average, so the northern average may be a bit smaller. The record-sized obese fatty blue whales massed at ~190 tonnes, there's nothing about 200+ tonne blue whales AFAIK.
well most listed sizes for blue whales are estimates anyway so we don`t know for sure.
scaling from your 24.7 meter 92.7 tonne size figure the longest blue whale
(which is 33.6 meters long for the record) yeilds a weight of 233.35 tonnes
scaling from your 24.7 meter 92.7 tonne size figure the longest blue whale
(which is 33.6 meters long for the record) yeilds a weight of 233.35 tonnes
IIRC, large rorquals don't scale isometrically, the blue whale is actually less massive than what isometrically scaling from smaller whales suggests.
But how much Smaller?
I don't know the exact way rorquals scale.
For what it's worth, a minke whale (~7-8 meters and ~4-5 tonnes on average) scaled up to the length of the average blue whale would mass around roughly ~150-175 tonnes.
For what it's worth, a minke whale (~7-8 meters and ~4-5 tonnes on average) scaled up to the length of the average blue whale would mass around roughly ~150-175 tonnes.
of course, 200+ tonnes blue whales are very rare (if they exist) and thus should not be accounted for when talking about
average or typical specimens
average or typical specimens
Not necessarily doubting you but do you know what source says that 33.6 meters is the record length?
www.extremescience.com/blue-wh…
www.registrelep-sararegistry.g…
there are other sources (that i cant seem to find) that say this.
ill keep looking, sorry if they aren't reliable.
www.registrelep-sararegistry.g…
there are other sources (that i cant seem to find) that say this.
ill keep looking, sorry if they aren't reliable.
I'm not sure if the first link is something I'd trust. Second one, maybe, but I'd still be cautious.