by: Jon Stern
The word minke comes from a Norwegian whaler who misidentified these small baleen whales for their larger cousins, the blue whale. The species name, acutorostrata, refers to the sharp angle of the upper jaw when viewed from above.
Minke whales have the typical body form of a balaenopterid whale. They are fusiform, or torpedo shaped, and have a dorsal fin, about .34 m in height, located about two-thirds down the back. The coloration is dark above and lighter on the ventral surface. Swaths of white extend up the flank. Minke whales are generally characterized by a white patch on the flipper. Most minke whales off South Africa, as well as in the southern hemisphere in general, lack this patch. Dwarf minke whales have white color on the flipper that extends onto the shoulder. As the name implies, fully grown, the dwarf form is smaller than the southern form. Minke whales in the northern hemisphere have this characteristic flipper band, though the white on the flipper is restricted to the middle of the flipper. There are likely a number of ecological differences that distinguishes the southern forms from each other.
Adults are at least 9 m, with some females being larger. Their weight is around 14 tons. At birth, minke whales are about 2.4-2.8 m long.
Both the southern and dwarf forms of minke whales are seen off South Africa. Based upon whaling and sighting records, minke whales are seen off Durban on the east coast of South Africa on a seasonal basis, likely representing migration between feeding and breeding areas. Whalers off the southwest coast of South Africa near Capetown reported sighting and capturing only a few minke whales, suggesting that they are not common in this area.
In the Antarctic, minke whales eat primarily krill, often congregating at the ice edge in large numbers. Dwarf minke whales probably do not penetrate far into the Antarctic waters. The southern minke whale is the most numerous baleen whale, with estimates around 800,000 individuals. The only predator of minke whales is the killer whale. Bites and wounds from unsuccessful attacks have been found on whales killed in whaling operations.
Direct impacts are in the form of scientific whaling in the Antarctic by the Japanese. Other impacts may be in the form of competition with the Antarctic krill fishery.
Insufficiently known.
Best, P.B. 1982. Seasonal abundance, feeding, reproduction age and growth in minke whales off Durban, with incidental observations from the Antarctic.Reports of the International Whaling Commission. 32: 759-786.
Best, P.B. 1985. External characteristics of southern minke whales and the existence of a diminuitive form. Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute. 36: 1-33.
Horwood, J. 1991. Biology and exploitation of the minke whale. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL.
Jefferson, T.A. Leatherwood, S. and M.A. Webber. 1994. FAO Species Identification Guide, Marine Mammals of the World. FAO of the United Nations, Rome.
Leatherwood, S. and R.R. Reeves. 1987. The Sierra Club Handbook of Whales and Dolphins. Sierra Club Books, San Fransisco.
Institute of Cetacean Research
Marine Mammal Stranding Center
URL for this page: http://csiwhalesalive.org/csiminke.html