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Balaenoptera
Balaenoptera, from the Latin balaena (whale) and Ancient Greek pteron (fin), is a genus of Balaenopteridae, the rorquals, and contains eight extant species. The species Balaenoptera omurai was published in 2003. Balaenoptera is a diverse genus and comprises all but one of the extant species in its family - the other species is the humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae.
7 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 9 known species

Fin Whale
speciesBalaenoptera physalus

Common Minke Whale
speciesBalaenoptera acutorostrata

Blue Whale
speciesBalaenoptera musculus

Sei Whale
speciesBalaenoptera borealis

Bryde's Whale complex
complexBalaenoptera edeni

Antarctic Minke Whale
speciesBalaenoptera bonaerensis

Blue × Fin Whale
hybridBalaenoptera musculus × physalus
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Balaenoptera in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 41547.