Top 3 Biggest Whales in the World

#3 Right Whale (Size)(North Atlantic) -46ft (Southern) -47ft (North Pacific) -49ft

Right whales or black whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus Eubalaena: the North Atlantic right whale (E. glacialis), the North Pacific right whale (E. japonica) and the Southern right whale (E. australis). They are classified in the family Balaenidae with the bowhead whale. Right whales have rotund bodies with arching rostrums, V-shaped blowholes and dark gray or black skin. The most distinguishing feature of a right whale are the rough patches of skin on its head which appear white due to parasitism by whale lice. Right whales can grow up to more than 18 m (59 ft) long with a highest-recorded length of 19.8 m (65 ft).[9] They weigh 100 short tons (91 t; 89 long tons) or more 20.7 m (68 ft) with 135,000 kg (298,000 lb)[10] or 21.3 m (70 ft) with uncertainty,[11] significantly larger than other coastal species such as humpbacks, grays, or edens and omura's, but smaller than blues. One (apocryphal) explanation for their name is that whalers identified them as the "right" whale to kill on a hunt due to the plentiful oil and baleen they could provide.[12] All three species are migratory, moving seasonally to feed or give birth. The warm equatorial waters form a barrier that isolates the northern and southern species from one another although at the southern species at least has been known to cross the equator.[13] In the Northern Hemisphere, right whales tend to avoid open waters and stay close to peninsulas and bays and on continental shelves, as these areas offer greater shelter and an abundance of their preferred foods. In the Southern Hemisphere, right whales feed far offshore in summer, but a large portion of the population occur in near-shore waters in winter. Right whales feed mainly on copepods but also consume krill and pteropods. They may forage the surface, underwater or even the ocean bottom. During courtship, males gather into large groups to compete for a single female, suggesting that sperm competition is an important factor in mating behavior. Although the blue whale is the largest animal on the planet, the testes of the right whale are actually ten times larger than those of the blue whale[14] - with each weighing up to 525 kilograms (1,157 lb), they are by far the largest of any animal on Earth.[15] Gestation tends to last a year, and calves are born at 1 short ton (0.91 t; 0.89 long tons) in weight and 4-6 m (13-20 ft) in length. Weaning occurs after eight months. Right whales were a preferred target for whalers because of their docile nature, their slow surface-skimming feeding behaviors, their tendency to stay close to the coast, and their high blubber content (which makes them float when they are killed, and which produced high yields of whale oil). Today, the North Atlantic and North Pacific right whales are among the most endangered whales in the world,[16] and both species are protected in the United States by the Endangered Species Act. The western populations of both are currently endangered, with their total populations numbering in the hundreds. The eastern North Pacific population, on the other hand, with fewer than 50 individuals remaining, is critically endangered[17] - further still, the eastern North Atlantic population, which numbers in the low teens at best, may already be functionally extinct.[16] Although the whales no longer face a threat from whaling, mankind remains by far the greatest threat to these species: the two leading causes of death are being struck by ships and entanglement in fishing gear. For the North Atlantic right whale, for example, whose population was estimated at 451 in 2016, down from 458 in 2015, these two anthropogenic factors alone account for 48% of all known right whale deaths since 1970.[18] More than 85% of right whales have been entangled at least once.[19] In 2017, at least 118 right whales were in the St Lawrence Seaway, or roughly a quarter of the local population, which previously fed in summer and fall months in the Bay of Fundy and Roadway basin. The habitat shift moved this population away from existing conservation efforts and into the path of busy shipping lanes and also snow crab fisheries where Fisheries and Oceans Canada doubled the quotas in 2017.[19] Right whales evovoled during the Miocene about 5 mya[2]

#1 Blue Whale (Size)82ft - 105ft

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the baleen whale parvorder, Mysticeti.[5] At up to 30 metres (98 ft)[6] in length and with a maximum recorded weight of 173 tonnes (190 short tons)[6] and probably reaching over 181 tonnes (200 short tons), it is the largest animal known to have ever existed.[7][8] Long and slender, the blue whale's body can be various shades of bluish-grey dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath.[9] There are at least three distinct subspecies: B. m. musculus of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia of the Southern Ocean and B. m. brevicauda (also known as the pygmy blue whale) found in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean. B. m. indica, found in the Indian Ocean, may be another subspecies. As with other baleen whales, its diet consists almost exclusively of small crustaceans known as krill.[10] Blue whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the twentieth century. For over a century, they were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966. A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide,[6] in at least five groups. The IUCN estimates that there are probably between 10,000 and 25,000 blue whales worldwide today.[11] Before whaling, the largest population was in the Antarctic, numbering approximately 239,000 (range 202,000 to 311,000).[12] There remain only much smaller (around 2,000) concentrations in each of the eastern North Pacific, Antarctic, and Indian Ocean groups. There are two more groups in the North Atlantic, and at least two in the Southern Hemisphere. As of 2014, the Eastern North Pacific blue whale population had rebounded to nearly its pre-hunting population.[13]

#2 Finback Whale (Size) 68ft

the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a marine mammal belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-largest mammalian species on Earth after the blue whale.[7] The largest reportedly grow to 27.3 m (89.6 ft) long[8] with a maximum confirmed length of 25.9 m (85 ft),[9] a maximum recorded weight of nearly 74 tonnes (73 long tons; 82 short tons),[10] and a maximum estimated weight of around 114 tonnes (112 long tons; 126 short tons). American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews called the fin whale "the greyhound of the sea ... for its beautiful, slender body is built like a racing yacht and the animal can surpass the speed of the fastest ocean steamship."[11] The fin whale's body is long and slender, coloured brownish-grey with a paler underside. The fin whale is a large baleen whale that belongs to the Cetacean order, which includes all species of whale, dolphin and porpoise. At least two recognized subspecies exist, in the North Atlantic and the Southern Hemisphere. It is found in all the major oceans, from polar to tropical waters. It is absent only from waters close to the ice pack at the poles and relatively small areas of water away from the open ocean. The highest population density occurs in temperate and cool waters.[12] Its food consists of small schooling fish, squid, and crustaceans including copepods and krill. Like all other large whales, the fin whale was heavily hunted during the 20th century. As a result, it is an endangered species. Over 725,000 fin whales were reportedly taken from the Southern Hemisphere between 1905 and 1976; as of 1997 only 38,000 survived.[2] Recovery of the overall population size of southern species is predicted to be at less than 50% of its pre-whaling state by 2100 due to heavier impacts of whaling and slower recovery rates.[13] The International Whaling Commission (IWC) issued a moratorium on commercial hunting of this whale,[14] although Iceland and Japan have resumed hunting. The species is also hunted by Greenlanders under the IWC's Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling provisions. Global population estimates range from less than 100,000 to roughly 119,000.