The highest point on the podium is occupied by the blue whale, which is not only the largest whale but also the largest animal on the planet. The largest specimen ever found was an incredible 33 meters long – the size of a commercial jet or almost three buses in a row -, but the average, in adulthood, is between 24 and 27 meters.
Whales are marine mammals belonging to the order Cetacea, which is divided into two suborders: the mysticetes, which include “true whales”, and the odontocetes, which include dolphins, porpoises and sperm whales. “The difference between these two groups is that the odontocetes have teeth in their mouths, while the mysticetes have rows of bristles or fins, used to filter their food, mainly plankton and small fish”, says biologist Leonardo Wedekin, from the Baleia Jubarte Institute.
Respecting this division, we left the sperm whale out of the Top 10 on this page, because, although it is a cetacean and looks like a whale, from a biological point of view, it cannot be classified in this group, exclusive to the mysticetes.
1. BLUE WHALE – Balaenoptera musculus
Size: 24 to 27 meters
Weight: 100 to 120 tons
The size of a Boeing 737 and weighing as much as 25 elephants put together, the blue whale is the largest animal on the planet. Everything about her is superlative: her tongue weighs 4 tons and every day she eats 4 million krill, a type of shrimp. The puppies suck 230 liters of milk a day, which causes them to gain 4 kilos an hour
2. END – Balaenoptera physalus
Size: 18 to 22 meters
Weight: 30 to 80 tons
In second place in the ranking, the fin whale beats them all when it comes to longevity. She is capable of living over a hundred years. Another curiosity about her is her power of communication. The low-frequency pulses it emits are so strong that another whale of the same species can pick them up 850 kilometers away.
3. BOWN WHALE – Balaena mysticetus
Size: 14 to 18 meters
Weight: 60 to 100 tons
The bowhead whale is so named because it is only seen around this large island located in the North Atlantic. Robust, it is capable of breaking ice sheets 30 centimeters thick when it comes to the surface. And it is one of the few species capable of having more than one offspring per gestation.
4. SEI – Balaenoptera borealis
Size: 13.4 to 18 meters
Weight: 20 to 30 tons
Found in practically all oceans, this whale avoids the icy waters of the poles. She is one of the fastest cetaceans, capable of reaching over 50 km/h. But it is not fond of deep dives: it usually feeds in water close to the surface and remains submerged for a maximum of ten minutes.
5. NORTHERN RIGHT WHALE – Eubalaena glacialis
Size: 11 to 18 meters
Weight: 30 to 80 tons
The spout of a northern right whale is unmistakable: it can reach 8 meters in height and has a V-shape thanks to the two holes it has in its head. Another characteristic of the species are the calluses or «warts» on the top and sides of the head. They act as a kind of «fingerprint»
6. SOUTHERN RIGHT WHALE – Eubalaena australis
Size: 11 to 18 meters
Weight: 30 to 80 tons
The males of this species are the owners of the largest testicles in the animal kingdom: the pair weighs a ton. As it moves very slowly, it is easy prey. For this reason, it almost became extinct: in the first half of the 19th century, it is estimated that 45,000 were killed, but since the middle of the last century, it has been protected by international conventions.
7. Humpback – Megaptera novaeangliae
Size: 11.5 to 15 meters
Weight: 25 to 30 tons
Common on the Brazilian coast, where it swims in the summer in order to mate, the humpback has a striking aspect of its huge pectoral fins, which can reach 5 meters. Due to indiscriminate hunting, the population of this species, known for its docile temperament, has dropped from 150,000 individuals in the last century to around 25,000 today.
8. BRYDE’S WHALE – Balaenoptera edeni
Size: 11.5 to 14.5 meters
Weight: 12 to 20 tons
Homegrown, the Bryde’s whale has no migratory cycles and spends the whole year in tropical or subtropical waters. Its name is a tribute to Johan Bryde, who helped build the first whaling port in South Africa. It is common to see wounds on his body, caused by parasites and shark bites.
9. GRAY WHALE – Eschrichtius robustus
Size: 12 to 14 meters
Weight: 15 to 35 tons
Found only in the North Pacific, this species has one of the longest migratory cycles of any animal on the planet. Every year, pods of gray whales swim from the Behring Sea in Alaska, where they feed in the summer, to the coast of Mexico, where they mate – 20,000 km, round trip
10. MINKE – Balaenoptera acutorostrata It is Balaenoptera bonaerensis
Size: 7 to 10 meters
Weight: 5 to 10 tons
The minke is divided into two species, each present in a hemisphere. Its main morphological characteristic is the narrow and pointed head and the tapered and hydrodynamic body. When hunting, it is capable of staying submerged for 20 minutes. It is easily observable because it tends to approach vessels