Blue whale
Balaenoptera musculus

The blue whale is the largest animal on earth. Not even the long-dead dinosaurs can match the size of the blue whale. Its slim, mottled, blue-gray body can be as long as 30 metres. It has a small curved dorsal fin placed far along its back. The whale is so big that its head disappears long before the dorsal fin and the huge flukes are seen. Blue whales were heavily hunted by whalers everywhere, including B.C. It is believed there were once about 228,000 blue whales worldwide. An estimated 14,000 survive today, several thousand of them in the north Pacific. Blue whales are now a rare sight in B.C. waters. They usually travel alone or in small groups, and because they prefer the open ocean, are unlikely to be seen close to the coast.