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The Pygmy Blue Whale
Pygmy Blue Whale

The 'Pygmy Blue Whale' is a subspecies of the Blue Whale found in the Indian Ocean and the southern Pacific Ocean.Reaching lengths of 24 metres it is smaller than the other commonly recognized subspecies, B....
 (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) is a subspecies of the Blue Whale
Blue Whale

The Blue Whale is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales . At up to 32.9 metres in length and 172 metric tonnes or more in weight, it is the largest whale and the largest living animal and is believed to be the largest organism ever to have existed....
 (Balaenoptera musculus) found in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
 and the southern Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
.

Reaching lengths of 24 metres (79 ft) it is smaller than the other commonly recognized subspecies, B. m. musculus and B. m. intermedia, which reach 29 m (95 ft) in length, hence its common name.

According to observations made since the subspecies was first described in 1966, the Pygmy Blue Whale differs from the "true" Blue Whales in a number of physical characteristics.






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The Pygmy Blue Whale
Pygmy Blue Whale

The 'Pygmy Blue Whale' is a subspecies of the Blue Whale found in the Indian Ocean and the southern Pacific Ocean.Reaching lengths of 24 metres it is smaller than the other commonly recognized subspecies, B....
 (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) is a subspecies of the Blue Whale
Blue Whale

The Blue Whale is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales . At up to 32.9 metres in length and 172 metric tonnes or more in weight, it is the largest whale and the largest living animal and is believed to be the largest organism ever to have existed....
 (Balaenoptera musculus) found in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
 and the southern Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
.

Reaching lengths of 24 metres (79 ft) it is smaller than the other commonly recognized subspecies, B. m. musculus and B. m. intermedia, which reach 29 m (95 ft) in length, hence its common name.

According to observations made since the subspecies was first described in 1966, the Pygmy Blue Whale differs from the "true" Blue Whales in a number of physical characteristics. It has:
  • broader and shorter baleen plates,
  • a shorter tail, and hence a proportionately longer body in front of the dorsal fin, and
  • a larger head relative to body size.


The shorter tail gives the Pygmy Blue Whale more of a tadpole
Tadpole

A tadpole or polliwog is the wholly aquatic larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian....
-like shape, and reflects in differences in diving behaviour: whereas the "true" Blues there is a delay between the submergence of the dorsal fin
Dorsal fin

A wikt:dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of some fish, whales, dolphins, and porpoises, as well as the ichthyosaurs. Its main purpose is to stabilize the animal against rolling and assist in sudden turns....
 and the caudal peduncle, in Pygmy Blue Whales the dorsal and peduncle submerge simultaneously. Pygmy Blue Whales also tend to be darker than the other subspecies of Blue Whale and the shape of their blowhole is different.

The Pygmy Blue Whale is the only of the three identifiable subspecies to be found regularly in tropical waters, it occurs from from the sub-Antarctic zone up to the southern Indian Ocean and south western Pacific Ocean, breeding in the Indian and South Atlantic oceans and travelling south to the Antarctic to feed.

A fourth subspecies, B. m. indica, was identified by Blyth
Edward Blyth

Edward Blyth was an England zoologist and pharmacist. He was one of the founders of Indian zoology.Blyth was born in London in 1810. In 1841 he travelled to India to become the curator of the museum of the Asiatic Society....
 in 1859 in the northern Indian Ocean, but difficulties in identifying distinguishing features for this subspecies lead to it being used a synonym for B. m. musculus. It is now thought it could be the same subspecies as the Pygmy Blue Whale. Records for Soviet catches seem to indicate that the female adult size is closer to that of the Pygmy Blue than B. m. musculus, although the populations of B. m. indica and B. m. brevicauda appear to be discrete and the breeding seasons differ by almost six months.

Pygmy Blue Whales are believed to be more numerous than the other subspecies. Estimates put their numbers at around 10,000 individuals whereas the other subspecies combined are estimated to total around 5,000. Although the designation is widely accepted, because of the relatively healthy stocks of Pygmy Blues compared to the other subspecies, The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 has questioned whether the sub-classification of the Pygmy Blue Whale has been driven by the interests of the whaling industry.