Species Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Balaena physalus Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna tria Naturae, secundem Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentis, Synonymis, Locis. Tom.1, Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii 824 pp. [75] [as (Balaena) Physalus].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, (none in existence), Spitzbergen Sea.

  Compiled from secondary source:

   Hershkovitz, P. 1966. Catalog of living whales. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 246: viii 1-259.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Hershkovitz, P. 1966. Catalog of living whales. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 246: viii 1-259 [163] (see also for synonyms based on non-Australian material)

 

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Circumglobal.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IMCRA

Tasmania Province (10), Southeast Transition (11), Central Eastern Province (12), Tasman Basin Province (13), Lord Howe Province (14), Central Eastern Transition (15), Kenn Transition (16), Kenn Province (17), Northwest Province (4), Central Western Transition (5), Central Western Province (6), Southwest Transition (7), Southern Province (8), West Tasmania Transition (9)

Ecological Descriptors

Continental shelf, migratory, oceanic, pelagic, predator.

 

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

Gambell, R. 1985. Fin whale Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758). pp. 171-192 in Ridgway, S.H. & Harrison, R.J. (eds). Handbook of Marine Mammals. Volume 3. The sirenians and baleen whales. London : Academic Press 362 pp.

Gaskin, D.E. 1972. Whales, Dolphins and Seals, with Special Reference to the New Zealand Region. London : Heinemann 200 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

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

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.

 

Common Name References

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