One of the 4 rorquals on WAnimals
Mammals · Artiodactyla · Balaenopteridae
Sei Whale
Balaenoptera borealis
Endangered
At very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.
The sei whale is the third largest baleen whale, after the blue whale and the fin whale, and the fastest of all the great cetaceans. It is slender, with a tall, falcate dorsal fin. It filters copepods and krill by swimming on its side near the surface, rather than taking the great mouthfuls of the other rorquals. Twentieth-century commercial whaling removed close to 80% of the world population when the fleets, having exhausted the blue and fin whales, turned to it.
Weight
15 t – 30 t
Size
12 m – 17 m
Life expectancy
65 years
