Common minke whale
Amazing fact
Common minke whales can leap completely out of the water like dolphins.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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Common minke whales can leap completely out of the water like dolphins.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Common minke whale
- Scientific name
- Balaenoptera acutorostrata
- Japanese name
- ミンククジラ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Balaenopteridae
- Genus
- Balaenoptera
Where the name “Common minke whale” comes from
Its scientific name means “winged whale” and “sharp snout”. Its English name comes from a Norwegian whale spotter said to have mistaken it for a blue whale.
NOAA FisheriesA whale with baleen plates. It prefers temperate to cold northern seas, but is also found in warm waters.
Its head is narrow and pointed. Its small flippers have a broad white band.
It eats small fish and shrimp-like animals by lunging sideways into their schools and gulping huge mouthfuls of water.
How the Common minke whale lives
They move north in summer. When they feed, seabirds sometimes gather, drawn by prey concentrated near the surface. They are often seen swimming alone or in small groups. When diving, they do not lift their tail flukes above the surface.
国立科学博物館 海棲哺乳類データベースNOAA FisheriesUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- 8.5–9.2 m
- Weight
- 6–9 t
Where the Common minke whale has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ミンククジラ
- 简体中文
- 小须鲸
- 繁體中文
- 小鬚鯨
- 한국어
- 밍크고래
- Español
- Rorcual aliblanco
- Français
- Baleinoptère à museau pointu
- Deutsch
- Zwergwal
- Português (Brasil)
- Baleia-de-minke
- Italiano
- Balenottera minore
- العربية
- حوت المنك المألوف
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Paus tombak
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá voi Minke
- Русский
- Малый полосатик
- Türkçe
- Bayağı minke balinası
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- NOAA Fisheries — Minke whaleChecked: 2026-11-03
- 国立科学博物館 海棲哺乳類データベース — ミンククジラChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Balaenoptera acutorostrataChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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