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Finback Whale
Also called: Rorqual, Finner.
Images coming soon.
- Length
- 40-50 feet.
- Description
- Head equal to or rather less than one-quarter the total length. Not arched, but broad and flat above. A fleshy fin is present on the back, and the throat is longitudinally furrowed while the bones of the neck are separate. Colour jet black above, including the flippers, white below, marbled on the sides by a combination of the two colours.
- Range
- North Atlantic Ocean.
The fin-back is said to be a more active and rapid swimmer than the right whale, but its general habits are much the same. Judging by stranded examples fin-back whales are the most common of the large whales on our Atlantic Coast.
Besides the common fin-back we have the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), a larger species of a purplish slate colour, while other closely allied varieties occur in other parts of the ocean.