What is the tail of a blue whale called?

What is the tail of a blue whale called?

flukes
FACT OF THE WEEK: The underside of a whale’s tail, called the flukes, is not the only characteristic that can be used to photo-identify baleen whales.

What type of tail does a whale have?

A whale’s tail is made of two lobes separated by a deep notch. Unlike fish, which have vertical tails, the whale’s tail is on a horizontal plane when his body’s upright. Another difference between flukes and fish tails is that flukes don’t contain bones.

Do blue whales have tails?

Most other whales show the dorsal fin almost immediately after the spout. Blue whales will only occasionally raise their tail flukes at the end of a dive. Blue whales are identified by their flukes and small dorsal fin, and individuals are identified by the patterns of color on their backs.

What is a whales tail made of?

The tail is made up of two large flukes with a notch in between them. The flukes are controlled by a massive muscle system in the peduncle. These muscles account for a third of the whale’s total body weight. The pectoral flippers are paddle shaped and pointed on the ends.

Do whales have a tail?

The tails of some whales, such as humpbacks, have distinctive markings which enables scientists to individually identify each whale. Other uses for the tail include occasionally slapping them on the surface of the water as a form of communication or to stun prey at the surface or underwater.

Can a blue whale open its mouth?

A hyper-elastic mouth The anatomy of a blue whale is quite particular: the lower mandible of its jaw can dislocate to open to almost 90°, and the floor of its accordion-like mouth can stretch up to quadruple its normal size.

Are blue whales larger than right whales?

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 – with each weighing up to 525 kilograms (1,160 lb), they are by far the largest of any animal on Earth.

Why are blue whales called blue whales?

Its English name, “blue whales”, was derived from its grayish body appearing bluish when it is submerged in the water. It is called “shironagasu kujira” in Japanese, but in ancient times (as long as we gather from old whaling history scrolls) it had been called simply as “nagasu kujira .”.

Are blue whales carnivores?

Yes, blue whales are carnivores. They consume plankton and plankton consists of small shrimp-like animals, so they are not herbivores.

What are the features of a blue whale?

The blue whale is an extremely large marine mammal, with a long, torpedo-shaped body. They have blue-gray colored skin, with a slightly lighter colored underside; they have two pectoral fins, a small dorsal fin on their backs, and a large fluke.