Rorqual Whale, 19th Century

Rorqual Whale, 19th Century

Rorquals (family Balaenopteridae) are the largest group of baleen whales, with nine extant species in two genera. Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The Cetacean suborder, Mysticeti (baleen whales), comprises filter feeders who eat small organisms caught by straining seawater through a comblike structure found in the mouth called baleen. This suborder includes the blue whale, the humpback whale, the bowhead whale and the minke whale. All cetaceans have forelimbs modified as fins, a tail with horizontal flukes, and nasal openings (blowholes) on top of the head. Whales inhabit all the world's oceans and number in the millions. Human hunting of whales from the seventeenth century until 1986 radically reduced the populations of some whale species. They are long-lived, humpback whales living for up to 77 years, while bowhead whales may live for more than a century. Dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle by Charles Dessalines Orbigny, 1847-49.

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4200 x 2648 px | 31.8 MB

35.6 x 22.4 cm | 14.0 x 8.8 in (300 dpi)