The origins of the species' common name are obscure. One of the first references to the name came in Henrik Johan Bull's account of his 1893–95 voyage to the Antarctic, when he mentioned catching a small whale "called … See more

Size
The common minke whale is the smallest of the rorquals, and one of the smallest baleen whales … See more

Reproduction
Common minke whales are sexually mature at about six to eight years of age for females and … See more

North Atlantic
The first written records attest to the active hunting of minke whales off Norway by 1100 A.D. By 1240 … See more

History
Otto Fabricius, in his Fauna Groenlandica (1780), was the first to describe the minke, noting its small size and white baleen – but he described it erroneously under the name Balaena rostrata (the taxonomic designation for the … See more

Range
Common minke whales have a disjointed distribution. In the North Atlantic, they occur as far north as Baffin Bay, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, … See more

Group size
Common minke whales are normally seen singly. In the San Juan Islands, although up to six whales could be seen in a feeding area at once … See more