Weight:

• About 10 tonnes (B142).

Length:

• Males: about 8.0m; females about 8.5m. Northern hemisphere individuals average about 0.5m shorter than southern hemisphere individuals (B142).
• 8-9m/25-30ft (D23).
• Newborn: Length 2.6m (B142).

External Appearance:

• Adult:
  • Slender body relative to length. Head slender, snout sharply pointed, with straight borders to rostrum.
  • Dorsal body dark grey to black, ventral body and ventral side of flippers white. May have light chevron on back of head occasionally. May have two pale grey areas, just above and behind flippers and just below/in front of dorsal fin.
  • Baleen plates: maximum 20cm long by 12cm wide, 230-360 on either side of the upper jaw, yellowish white, sometimes with black streaking, and with fringe of fine white bristles.
  • Throat grooves: 50-70, end behind flippers but in cranial to navel.
  • Dorsal fin: Nearly 2/3 of way along back towards tail flukes, relatively tall, usually distinct sickle shape.
  • Flippers: 1/8 of body length, relatively short and narrow. Distinctive white band.
  • Tail flukes: broad, with small median notch.

  (B142).

Around Britain: "Atlantic seaboard of Britain and Ireland, W and N Norway, the Faroes and Iceland, often close to the coast. Also occurs in northern and central North Sea regularly as far south as the Yorkshire coast, but virtually absent from the channel." (B142).

Movement:

• May be seen around Britain May to October, most commonly in August (B142).

Habitat:

• Fish (Clupea, Gadus, Mallotus, Eleginus, Pollachius, Ammodytes spp.).
• Euphausiids and pteropods.
• (B142).

Feeding Behaviour:

• Often feed in upwelling areas around headlands and small islands, particularly during the summer.
• Engulf prey from behind with mouth open.
• Also use side-feeding and lunge-feeding.
• May use water surface to trap shoals of fish.
• (B142)

Breeding:

• Gestation 10 months.
• Births mainly around December.
• Lactation less than 6 months.
• Calving interval 1-2 years or greater.
• Sexual maturity about 7 years old.
• (B142).

Activity: Cruising swimming speed 5-26km/hour (B142).

Social Behaviour:

• Usually solitary or in pairs.
• Sometimes larger groups when feeding.
• (B142).

Conservation Status:

• Commonest rorqual world-wide.
• North Atlantic population estimated 50,000 to 100,000.
• (B142).

Organisations (UK Contacts):

• Wildlife and Countryside Directorate, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR)
• The Mammal Society
• Mammals Trust
• British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR)
• Cetacean Research & Rescue Unit (CRRU)
• Earthkind
• The Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust
• Sea Life Centres
• Sea Mammal Research Unit
• Sea Watch Foundation
• UK Marine Mammal Strandings Project
• Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society

Electronic Library (further reading):

• MARINE MAMMAL MEDIC HANDBOOK
• Oil Spills and Marine Wildlife: Guidelines for a Response
• RSPCA - Stranded whales, dolphins and porpoises
• Stranded Cetaceans
• British Mammal Factsheets

General Legislation:

• "Whales (Cetacea)" are listed on Schedule 5 (Protected animals) of the LUK2 - Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 of the United Kingdom. (W5.Oct01)
• The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 adds "reckless damage or disturbance" to the offence of intentionally damaging any structure or place which a wild animal listed in Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 together with a further extension to protect Schedule 5 cetaceans by the addition of an offence of "intentionally or recklessly disturbing a cetacean or basking shark in any place".

Individual techniques:

• Refloatation of Stranded Whales & Dolphins
• Lifting and Moving of Stranded Whales & Dolphins
• Accommodation of Casualty Whales & Dolphins