Species Balaenoptera musculus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Museums

Regional Maps

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Hershkovitz, P. 1966. Catalog of living whales. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 246: viii 1-259 [170] (see for synonyms based on non-Australian material)

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Circumglobal.

Introduced from various regions.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IMCRA

Timor Transition (1), Southeast Transition (11), Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Transition (28), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Tasmanian Shelf Province (36), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northwest Province (4), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41), Central Western Transition (5), Southwest Transition (7), West Tasmania Transition (9)

Other Regions

Heard & McDonald Islands (Aust. Terr.)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Antarctic Region

• Heard & McDonald Islands (Aust. Terr.)
• Subantarctic Islands
  • Crozet Islands
  • Kerguélen Island

Australian Region

• Australia
  • 200 m bathymetric: Bass Strait, Central E coast, Central W coast, Lower E coast, Lower W coast, N coast, NE coast, S Gulfs coast, SW coast, Tas. Coast

Ecological Descriptors

Continental shelf, migratory, oceanic, pelagic, predator.

Extra Ecological Information

Found in disturbed habitats.

 

General References

Aitken, P.F. 1971. Whales from the coast of South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 95: 95-103

Anon. 1978. Southern Hemisphere Baleen Whales. pp. 54-56 in [Committee] (ed.). Mammals in the Seas. FAO Fisheries Series 5(1). Rome : FAO/UN

Bannister, J.L., Kemper, C.M. & Warneke, R.M. 1996. The Action Plan for Australian Cetaceans. Canberra : Australian Nature Conservation Agency 242 pp.

Bryden, M.M. 1978. Whales and whaling in Queensland waters. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 89: v-xviii

Calambokidis, J. & Steiger, G. 1997. Blue Whales. Stillwater, MN : Voyagueur Press

Gill, P.C. & Morrice, M.G. 2003. Blue Whales in Bonney Upwelling: Current Information. Deakin University, School of Ecology and Environment, Technical Paper 2003/1. 29 pp.

Guiler, E.R. 1978. Whale strandings in Tasmania since 1945 with notes on some seal reports. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 112: 189-213

Ichihara, T. 1966. The Pygmy Blue Whale, Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda, a new subspecies from the Antarctic. pp. 79-113 in Norris, K.S. (ed.). Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises. Berkeley & Los Angeles : Univ. California Press

Isles, A.C. 1981. A blue whale Balaenoptera musculus stranded near Warrnambool, Victoria. Victorian Naturalist 98: 52-53

Leatherwood, S. & Reeves, R.R. 1983. The Sierra Club Handbook of Whales and Dolphins. San Francisco : Sierra Club Books xviii 302 pp.

McCauley, R., Bannister, J., Burton, C., Jenner, C., Rennie, S. & Kent, C.S. 2004. Western Australian Exercise Area Blue Whale Project, Final Summary Report. CMST Report R2004-29, Curtin University

Warneke, R.M. 1983. Whale stranding — accident or design. Australian Natural History 21: 43-47

Watson, L. 1981. Sea Guide to Whales of the World. London : Hutchinson 302 pp.

Yochem, P.K. & Leatherwood, S. 1985. Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus (Linnaeus, 1758). pp. 193-240 in Ridgway, S.H. & Harrison, R.J. (eds). Handbook of Marine Mammals. Volume 3. The sirenians and baleen whales. London : Academic Press 362 pp.

 

Common Name References

ABRS 2001. Census of Australian Vertebrates. Australian Biological Resources Study (Blue Whale)