The blue whale weighs 150 tons. Big blue whales. How much does the world's largest whale weigh

“Sea monster” is the Greek word κῆτος (whale), applied to all cetaceans except porpoises and dolphins. But, answering the question "how much does a whale weigh", one cannot do without dolphins. In this family, there is a monster heavier than many real whales - a killer whale.

Whale weight by species

Whales deservedly bear the title of the heaviest animals, both terrestrial and aquatic.. The cetacean order consists of 3 suborders, one of which (ancient whales) has already disappeared from the face of the Earth. The other two suborders are toothed and baleen whales, which are distinguished by the structure of the mouth apparatus and the type of food closely associated with it. The oral cavity of toothed whales is equipped, as it is logical to assume, with teeth, which allows them to hunt big fish and squid.

On average, toothed whales are inferior in size to representatives of the baleen suborder, but among these carnivores there are amazing heavyweights:

• sperm whale - up to 70 tons;
• northern floating fish - 11–15 tons;
• narwhal - females up to 0.9 tons, males at least 2-3 tons (where a third of the weight is fat);
• white whale (beluga whale) - 2 tons;
• pygmy sperm whale - from 0.3 to 0.4 tons.

Important! Porpoises stand somewhat apart: although they are included in the suborder of toothed whales, in a strict classification they do not belong to whales, but to cetaceans. Porpoises weigh about 120 kg.

Now let's look at dolphins, which pedantic ketologists also deny the right to be called true whales, allowing them to be called cetaceans in the group of toothed whales (!).

Whale weight at birth

When born, a blue whale calf weighs 2–3 tons with a body length of 6–9 meters. Every day, due to the exceptional fat content of mother's milk (40–50%), he becomes heavier by 50 kg, drinking more than 90 liters of a valuable product per day. The cub does not come off the mother's breast for 7 months, gaining 23 tons by this age.

Important! By the time of the transition to self-feeding, the young whale grows up to 16 m, and by its one and a half years, the 20-meter "baby" already weighs 45-50 tons. He will approach adult weight and height no earlier than 4.5 years, when he himself becomes able to reproduce offspring.

Only a little behind the newborn blue whale is the baby fin whale, which at birth weighs 1.8 tons and is 6.5 meters long. The female feeds him with milk for six months, until the child doubles its height..

The weight of the smallest of the adult whales is 3 - 3.5 tons. There are individuals of much larger size. For example, a humpback whale weighs 30 tons, a bowhead whale weighs 75-100 tons.

The blue whale (another name is vomit) is recognized as the leader in size - the largest mammal that has ever lived on planet Earth.

How much does a blue whale weigh? Scientists dealing with ocean problems have found that on average it is 100 - 120 tons. The dimensions of the body in length are also impressive - 24 meters or more. Female whales are larger than males.

So how much does the largest whale weigh? Back in 1926, in the Atlantic Ocean near the South Shetland Islands, whalers caught a specimen over 33 meters long. Unfortunately, at that time there was still no equipment on which it was possible to accurately weigh the caught prey. But the fishermen were unanimous in their opinion: the mass of the female whale is not less than 150 tons. For comparison, the weight of a wagon loaded with timber is 65 tons.

There were also more full-weight individuals - in 1947, a whale weighing 190 tons and more than 34 meters long was killed near South Georgia. People have already been able to weigh this handsome man. After the giant caught, there were several more record holders - 180 tons, 130 tons. Soviet sailors in 1964 were able to score a 135-ton whale 30 meters long.

I wonder how much the heart of a blue whale weighs? It is also weighed, its mass is 600 - 700 kg, and it pumps almost 10,000 liters of blood. But the most impressive fact is how much the blue whale's tongue weighs - about 3 - 4 tons!

The length of modern whales living in the northern seas and oceans is 22 - 23 meters. Their southern relatives are somewhat larger - 25 - 27 meters. There are also dwarf vomits. They are named so only because their dimensions are three meters smaller than the others. Pygmy blue whales live in the waters of the Indian Ocean.

Whales are a kind of sociophobes, they do not like to live in packs, they are loners who independently earn their own food. It is rare to see a group of blue whales of 3 individuals.

Vomits are not predators, their main diet is plankton and crustaceans. But they eat in impressive portions - the stomach can hold up to 2 tons of food at a time. Swallowing water with crustaceans, plankton, small and large fish, the whale filters solid food through the whalebone (plate on the upper jaw). Intensive accumulation of fat occurs in the summer so that the fat layer can warm the whale in the cold winter. Therefore, in summer period whales are busy looking for food, which they absorb almost continuously.

In winter, whales tend to move to warmer waters, leaving their permanent "pastures". This is probably due to the fact that whale babies do not have a good fat layer that would help them not to freeze in icy water, and females take their children away from Antarctica, despite the fact that there is more food in Antarctic waters.

Interestingly, the giant size of the blue whale does not prevent him from being flexible and gracefully moving away from his pursuers. A machine of this magnitude is capable of making multi-kilometer forced marches at a speed of about 50 km / h. People who saw the whale moving in the ocean were shocked: the huge carcass was out of sight in the blink of an eye. Apparently, this is why the giant is poorly studied by ichthyologists: in the vast ocean, a fast-moving mammal is not so easy to explore.

Ichthyologists believe that the current vomits are smaller than their ancestors. The reason is the uncontrolled whaling in the past for the sake of blubber (fat), meat (whale), and, of course, expensive whalebone.

It is difficult to argue with the statement that it is nature that has the most vivid imagination. Each of the representatives of flora and fauna has its own unique, and sometimes even strange features that often do not fit in our heads. Take, for example, the same mantis shrimp. This predatory creature is capable of attacking a victim or offender with its powerful claws at a speed of 83 km / h, and their visual system is one of the most complex ever studied by man. Mantis shrimp, although fierce, are not particularly large - up to 35 cm in length. The largest inhabitant of the seas and oceans, as well as the planet in general, is the blue whale. The length of this mammal can reach more than 30 meters, and the weight is 150 tons. Despite their impressive size, blue whales can hardly be called formidable hunters, because. they prefer plankton.

The anatomy of blue whales has always been of interest to scientists who want to better understand how such a huge organism and organs work in it. Despite the fact that we have known about the existence of blue whales for several hundred years (since 1694, to be more precise), these giants have not revealed all their secrets. Today, we take a look at a study in which a group of scientists from Stanford University developed a device that captured the first recordings of a blue whale's heartbeat. How does the heart of the ruler of the seas work, what discoveries have scientists made, and why can't an organism larger than a blue whale exist? We learn about this from the report of the research group. Go.

Exploration hero

The blue whale is the largest mammal, the largest inhabitant of the seas and oceans, the largest animal, the largest whale. What can I say, the blue whale is really the most-most in terms of dimensions - a length of 33 meters and a weight of 150 tons. The figures are approximate, but no less impressive.

Even the head of this giant deserves a separate line in the Guinness Book of Records, since it occupies about 27% of the total body length. At the same time, the eyes of blue whales are quite small, no larger than a grapefruit. If it will be difficult for you to see the eyes of a whale, then you will notice the mouth right away. The mouth of a blue whale can hold up to 100 people (a creepy example, but blue whales do not eat people, at least not intentionally). The large size of the mouth is due to gastronomic preferences: whales eat plankton, swallowing huge volumes of water, which they then release through a sieve, filtering out food. Under fairly favorable circumstances, the blue whale absorbs about 6 tons of plankton per day.

Another important feature of blue whales is their lungs. They are able to hold their breath for 1 hour and dive to a depth of 100 m. But, like other marine mammals, blue whales periodically emerge to the surface of the water to breathe. Having risen to the surface of the water, the whales use the blowhole - a breathing hole from two large holes (nostrils) on the back of the head. The exhalation of a whale through a blowhole is often accompanied by a vertical fountain of water up to 10 m high. Given the characteristics of the habitat of whales, their lungs work much more efficiently than ours - whale lungs absorb 80-90% of oxygen, and ours only about 15%. The volume of the lungs is about 3 thousand liters, in humans, this figure varies in the region of 3-6 liters.

Model of a blue whale's heart in a museum in New Bedford (USA).

The circulatory system of the blue whale is also full of record parameters. For example, their vessels are simply huge, the diameter of the aorta alone is about 40 cm. The heart of blue whales is considered the largest heart in the world and weighs about a ton. With such a big heart, a whale has a lot of blood - more than 8000 liters in an adult.

And so we smoothly approached the essence of the study itself. The heart of the blue whale is large, as we have already understood, but it beats rather slowly. Previously, it was believed that the pulse is about 5-10 beats per minute, in rare cases up to 20. But no one has made accurate measurements, until now.

Scientists from Stanford University say that the scale in biology is of great importance, especially when it comes to defining functional features organs of living beings. The study of various creatures, from mice to whales, allows you to determine the size limits that a living organism cannot exceed. And the heart and the cardiovascular system as a whole are important attributes of such studies.

In marine mammals, whose physiology has fully adapted to their way of life, diving and breath-holding adaptations play an important role. It has been found that in many such creatures, during a dive, the heart rate drops to levels below the resting state. And when you rise to the surface, the heart rate becomes more rapid.

Decreased heart rate during diving is necessary to reduce the rate of oxygen delivery to tissues and cells, thereby slowing down the process of depletion of oxygen reserves in the blood and reducing oxygen consumption by the heart itself.

There is a hypothesis that exercise (i.e. increased physical activity) modulates the dive response and increases heart rate during a dive. This hypothesis is especially important for the study of blue whales, because due to the special method of feeding (lunge to swallow water), the metabolic rate, in theory, should exceed the base values ​​(resting state) by 50 times. It is hypothesized that such lunges accelerate the depletion of oxygen, hence reducing the duration of the dive.

The increased heart rate and increased oxygen transfer from the blood to the muscles during a lunge may play an important role due to the metabolic cost of such physical activity. In addition, it is worth considering the low concentration myoglobin*(Mb) in blue whales (5-10 times lower than in other marine mammals: 0.8 g Mb per 100 g-1 muscle in blue whales and 1.8-10 g Mb in other marine mammals.

Myoglobin*- oxygen-binding protein of skeletal muscle and heart muscle.

As a conclusion, physical activity, diving depth and volitional control change the heart rate during diving through the autonomic nervous system.

An additional factor in reducing the heart rate may be compression / expansion of the lungs during a dive / ascent.

Thus, the heart rate during the dive and during the stay on the surface is directly related to the patterns of arterial hemodynamics.

fin whale

An earlier study of the biomechanical properties and dimensions of the aortic walls in fin whales ( Balaenoptera physalus) showed that during diving at a heart rate ≤10 beats/min, the aortic arch realizes a reservoir effect ( Windkessel effect), which maintains blood flow for long diastolic periods* between heartbeats and reduces the pulsation of blood flow into the rigid distal aorta.

Diastole*(diastolic period) - the period of relaxation of the heart between contractions.

All the hypotheses, theories and conclusions described above must have material evidence, that is, be confirmed or refuted in practice. But for this you need to conduct an electrocardiography of a freely moving blue whale. Simple methods will not work here, because scientists have created their own device for electrocardiography.

A video in which the researchers briefly talk about their work.

The whale's ECG was recorded using a custom-made ECG recorder built into a special capsule with 4 suction cups. Surface ECG electrodes were embedded in two of the suction cups. The researchers went by boat to Monterey Bay (Pacific Ocean, near California). When scientists finally met a blue whale that floated to the surface of the water, they attached an ECG recorder to its body (next to the left fin). According to previously collected data, this whale is a male at the age of 15 years. It is important to note that this device is non-invasive, that is, it does not require the introduction of any sensors or electrodes into the skin of the animal. That is, for the whale, this procedure is completely painless and with minimal stress from human contact, which is also extremely important, given that heartbeat readings are taken that could be distorted due to stress. The result was an 8.5-hour ECG recording from which scientists were able to build a heart rate profile (image below).

Image #1: Blue whale heart rate profile.

The ECG waveform was similar to that recorded from small whales in captivity using the same device. The whale's foraging behavior was quite normal for its species: diving for 16.5 minutes to a depth of 184 m and surface intervals of 1 to 4 minutes.

The heart rate profile, consistent with the cardiovascular response to the dive, showed that a heart rate of 4 to 8 beats per minute predominated in the lower phase of foraging dives, regardless of dive duration or maximum depth. Dive heart rate (calculated over the entire duration of the dive) and minimum instantaneous heart rate during the dive decreased with dive duration, while the maximum post-dive surface heart rate increased with dive duration. That is, the longer the whale was under water, the slower the heart beat during the dive and the faster after the ascent.

In turn, allometric equations for mammals state that a whale weighing 70,000 kg has a heart weighing 319 kg, and its stroke volume (the volume of blood ejected per beat) is about 80 liters, therefore, the heart rate at rest should be 15 beats / min.

During the lower phases of dives, the instantaneous heart rate was 1/3 to 1/2 of the predicted resting heart rate. However, the heart rate increased during the ascent stage. At surface intervals, the heart rate was about twice the predicted resting heart rate and predominantly ranged from 30 to 37 beats per minute after deep dives (>125 meters) and from 20 to 30 beats per minute after shallower dives.

This observation may indicate that the acceleration of heart rate is necessary to achieve the desired respiratory gas exchange and reperfusion (restoration of blood flow) of tissues between deep dives.

Shallow, brief night dives have been associated with rest and are therefore more characteristic of a less active state. The typical heart rates seen with a 5-minute night dive (8 beats per minute) and the accompanying 2-minute surface interval (25 beats per minute) can collectively result in a heart rate on the order of 13 beats per minute. This figure, as we can see, is surprisingly close to the calculated predictions of allometric models.

The scientists then profiled the heart rate, depth, and relative lung capacity of 4 separate dives to explore the potential impact of physical activity and depth on heart rate regulation.

Image #2: Heart rate, depth and relative lung volume profiles from 4 separate dives.

When eating food at great depths, the whale performs a certain lunge maneuver - it sharply opens its mouth to swallow water with plankton, and then filters out food. It was noted that the heart rate at the time of swallowing water is 2.5 times higher than at the time of filtration. This directly indicates the dependence of the heart rate on physical activity.

As for the lungs, their effect on heart rate is highly unlikely, as no significant changes in relative lung volume were observed during the dives in question.

At the same time, in the lower phases of shallow dives, a short-term increase in heart rate was associated precisely with changes in the relative volume of the lungs and could be caused by activation of the lung stretch receptor.

Summarizing the above observations, the scientists came to the conclusion that during feeding at great depths, there is a short increase in heart rate by 2.5 times. However, the average peak heart rate during lunges at the time of feeding was still only half the predicted value at rest. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that the flexible aortic arches of large whales realize a reservoir effect during slow heart rates during dives. In addition, the range of higher heart rates during the post-dive period supported the hypothesis that aortic impedance and cardiac workload decrease during the surface interval due to the destructive interference of outgoing and reflected pressure waves in the aorta.

The extreme bradycardia observed by the researchers may be an unexpected result of the study, given the colossal effort required by the whale to lunge while swallowing water with plankton. However, the metabolic cost of this maneuver may not match heart rate or convective oxygen transport due in part to the short duration of feeding and the possible recruitment of glycolytic, fast twitch muscle fibers.

During a lunge, blue whales accelerate to high speed and absorb a volume of water that may be larger than their own body. Scientists suggest that the high resistance and energy required to maneuver quickly deplete the body's total oxygen supply, which limits the dive time. The mechanical force required to absorb large volumes of water is likely to far exceed the aerobic metabolic force. That is why during the performance of such maneuvers, the heart rate, although it increased, but for a very short time.

For a more detailed acquaintance with the nuances of the study, I recommend looking into the report of scientists.

Epilogue

One of the most important findings is that blue whales require near-maximal heart rates for gas exchange and reperfusion during short surface intervals, regardless of the pattern of oxygen depletion in blood and muscle during dives. Given that larger blue whales have to put in more labor in a shorter period of time to obtain food (according to the hypotheses of allometry), they inevitably face several physiological limitations both during the dive and during the surface interval. And this means that evolutionarily the size of their body is limited, since if it were larger, the process of obtaining food would be very costly and would not be compensated by the food received. The researchers themselves believe that the heart of the blue whale is working at the limit of its capabilities.

In the future, scientists plan to expand the capabilities of their device, including adding an accelerometer to better understand the impact of various physical activities on heart rate. They also plan to use their ECG sensor on other marine life.

As this study has shown, being the biggest creature with the biggest heart is not so easy. However, no matter how big sea creatures are, no matter what diet they follow, we need to understand that the water column, which is used by humans for fishing, mining and transportation, remains their home. We are only guests, and therefore we must behave accordingly.

Friday off-top:

Rare footage of a blue whale demonstrating the capacity of its mouth.

Another giant of the seas is the sperm whale. In this video, scientists using a remote-controlled ROV Hercules filmed a curious sperm whale at a depth of 598 meters.

Thanks for watching, stay curious and have a great weekend everyone! :)

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"And God created great fish" ( Genesis 1:21 ). And the largest of them, of course, is the mysterious blue whale. Scientists are still trying to figure out how such a huge mammal, which breathes air and has a stomach the size of a minibus, can be so well adapted to life at depth.

Somewhere in the depths of the ocean swims the largest creature that has ever lived on land or in water. Its weight is comparable to that of thirty adult elephants, and its mouth is so huge that a whole bus could drive into it; every day the whale absorbs tons of food. But if the size of the prey exceeds the size of the shrimp, it will not fall into his menu, because this monster - the blue whale - has no teeth at all.

The length of the largest blue whale ( Balaenoptera muscle), which scientists managed to measure, was 30 meters. However, there are records that in 1909 a whale was caught at a whaling station, the length of which exceeded 34 meters. A blue whale can weigh over 150 tons. Even the long-necked dinosaurs, whose length from the nose to the end of the tail could exceed the length of the whale, probably never even approached the weight of the blue whale in their weight.

Why do you have such a big mouth?

A large body needs a large mouth to feed. When the blue whale opens its mouth to take a huge gulp of ocean water, the thick layer of accordion-shaped skin folds open like a huge soap bubble that can hold 5,000 gallons (57 kiloliters) of liquid. However, the whale does not swallow water.

© Doc White | SeaPics. com

He releases most of the water back, closing his mouth and squeezing the liquid through special plates located in his mouth. Tons of tiny shrimp-like creatures called krill are trapped by these plates, and then the whale swallows the prey. Just imagine filling your entire kitchen with shrimp and then gobbling it down in one massive gulp!

Great blue whales belong to the subgroup of toothless whales. Instead of teeth, they have flexible plates called baleen. They are located in the whale's mouth very close together and directed in such a way that water can be squeezed out through them. Whalebones are made of the protein keratin (the same material that makes up human nails), which gives them strength and flexibility enough for a whale to close its mouth with ease.

Since the great blue whale is not able to grab prey with its teeth, it must swim with its mouth wide open to swallow as much krill as possible. According to recent studies, large blue whales dive to great depths and emerge up, capturing huge flocks of krill on the go. It takes tremendous muscular strength to keep such a huge mouth open and then close it while moving forward. This process reads "the largest mechanical act in the entire animal kingdom." one

whale communication

Great blue whales are mysterious animals. It was quite difficult to study them, because in the last century, due to hunting, they were practically destroyed, and they do not migrate in groups, like other whales. The researchers found that great blue whales swim across the vast expanses of the ocean and swim singly in different directions from each other. Recently, however, scientists have discovered that the male and female whales can swim in pairs. Perhaps the whales find partners for the long term, and the impression that they live separately may be formed due to the fact that they spend a lot of time apart.

Great blue whales are able to communicate with each other hundreds of miles away by sending out low-frequency sound waves (infrasounds) too low for the human ear to hear. Therefore, although it may seem that great blue whales lead a hermit life, the sounds made by the whales indicate the opposite - they constantly communicate with each other.

Moreover, hearing in blue whales is probably the most important way to sense the environment; one gets the impression that their sight and smell are limited. The ears of the great blue whale are very far apart - at a distance of about 4.6 meters, but this ideal feature of the structure helps them use sound to determine the location of their friends.

Two whales that make sounds at the same frequency can determine the distance between themselves and each other's location by the intensity of the sounds - just like we can determine from the sound where the car is and where it is moving - towards us , or from us. Some scientists believe that great blue whales can use sound to locate krill.

However, one of the greatest mysteries of the great blue whale is how they make a sound so loud that it can be heard hundreds of miles away. Like other living creatures, blue whales have a throat or larynx to amplify the sound, but researchers have not found a vocal apparatus in the whale, with which they make this sound.

It also turned out that blue whales make sounds at a frequency that is only slightly higher than the sounds of the earth (yes, the earth does make sounds at several frequencies), and slightly lower than the sounds of the waves. If the frequency they use was slightly higher or lower than that used by the whales, it would be lost in the background noise.

Jonah in the belly of the blue whale?

Could it be that Jonah was swallowed by a blue whale? Creationists are not entirely sure which sea creature swallowed Jonah.2 The blue whale is being considered as one of the candidates because it has ample capacity to do so.

We also know from the biblical account that Jonah drowned, plunging into the depths of the ocean. Blue whales swim to the depths and then resurface to catch their prey. It is also believed that the whale needs to absorb a large volume of air in order to make such loud sounds. Therefore, inside the blue whale, Jonah had to have enough space, food and air; moreover, Jonah would not have had to be exposed to the teeth.

But more importantly, we know for sure: by God's grace, Jonah was rescued from the depths of the ocean, and was not eaten by this large animal, as it could happen. What a marvelous picture of how our Great Savior Jesus Christ can save any of us from the intricacies and destructive weight of sin, no matter how deep we sink, we just need to call on Him (see Jonah 2:1-7)!

Did you know?

The blue whale has the largest babies in the world. At birth, they reach 7.6 meters in length and can gain 90 kilograms in weight daily.

Blue whales are able to communicate with other blue whales hundreds of miles away. Moreover, there is a certain layer of water in which they can send and receive signals at a distance of 2000 miles. In this water layer, sounds can reach very quickly without being scattered. The sound is "guided" by a low density water layer at the top and a low density water layer at the bottom. This channel is called the deep sound channel.

The heart of a blue whale reaches the size of a mini-car.

There are nine groups of blue whales in the ocean. The largest of them - California - has about 2000 individuals. There are about 10,000 blue whales worldwide. Scientists believe that before the development of whaling in the early twentieth century, there were hundreds of thousands of them.

A large blue whale can hold up to 1 ton (3.6 metric tons) of krill in its stomach, and it can eat more than 4 tons in a day.

Class: mammals
Order: cetaceans
Family: striped
Genus: minke whale
View: muscle
Size: up to 33.5 meters long and 150 tons
Diet: Krill (microscopic shrimp-like animals)
Habitat: in deep water in the oceans

Dr. Joe Francis, professor of biological sciences at Masters College, received his Ph.D. State University Wayne and then a postdoctoral fellow at the Medical University of Michigan. Dr. Francis is one of the board members of the Creation Biology Research Group.