Fully grown whale sharks can reach an absolute maximum size of 12.5 metres in length and weigh around 40,000lbs. Whale sharks are found in the warm waters around the equator. Despite its name this species in entirely a shark species, and not a mammal/whale at all. The biggest fish in the sea (understanding fish to be all members of the cartilaginous fishes class of Chondrichthyes, the bony fish class of Actinopterygii and hagfish and lampreys) is the whale shark ( Rhincodon typus). In the discussion of largest sea creatures there is no debate – it is certainly the blue whale. However, blue whales are still currently classed as Endangered by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature). While there were around 250,000 – 300,000 blue whales in the world at the start of the twentieth century the industrial hunting of this species led to a massive crash in their numbers.īy the 1970s and 1980s there were bans and moratoriums on commercial whaling (ignored by Russia, Japan, Norway and Iceland who still hunt whales to this day under the pretence of ‘scientific research.’) However, these bans do seem to have had some effect with a modest rise in blue whale numbers from 5000 in the 1990s to approximately 10,000 – 25,000 alive in the world today.
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The loud, low frequency calls of the blue whales are used to communicate with each other, and can be transmitted for hundreds, possibly thousands of miles through the oceans. Its call can reach almost 190 decibels – to put that into perspective hearing damage beings at under 100 decibels. As well as being the largest animal in the world, the blue whale is also the loudest.They can eat around four tons of krill each day. Despite its vast size the blue whale is a filter feeder, eating only krill and other minute sea creatures.Baby blue whales feed on their mother’s milk – and can drink 50 gallons a day, meaning they can increase their weight by 200lbs every 24-hours!.New born blue whales are around 6-8 metres long at birth.The heart of a blue whale is approximately the size of a saloon car.Each testicle of the blue whale weighs around 150lbs.At 10ft in length the blue whale has the largest penis in the animal world.The tongue of a blue whale weighs 3 tons.
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The arteries of a blue whale are approximately 10 inches wide.The true size of a fully-grown blue whale lends itself to being described in facts and statistics: They can grow to an absolute maximum of 33 metres in length (108 feet) and weigh 200 tons (400,000lbs), although most blue whales are smaller than this, averaging around 20 – 25 metres when fully grown. The blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus) is undoubtedly the biggest creature in the sea, and is in fact the largest animal to have ever lived on plant earth – a fully-grown blue whale is double the size of the largest land-dwelling dinosaur that ever lived. The Biggest Creature in the Sea Size comparison between a fully grown blue whale and human. Read on to find out more about this topic. Indeed, we known so little about some species such as the giant squid that we still do not know the true maximum size that they can reach.
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As the article below discusses the sizes that blue whales, whale sharks and other species (some of which can be found in British waters) can grow to is truly amazing. There are some creatures in the world’s seas which can grow to truly gigantic sizes.