Pygmy Blue Whale, Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda (or a separate subspecies, B.m.indica), fluking. with a remora suckerfish in the Indian Ocean.
Pygmy Blue Whales are a group of populations of Blue Whales which are slightly smaller – about 24m long rather than 30m. Thney live in the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean and also in the southern Pacific Ocean. Scientists now know that there is a lot still waiting to be learned about cetacea in general, so the systematics of whale populations, and their species and subspecies, is in flux.
Some scientists believe that the Indian Ocean (Sri Lankan) population of Pygmy Blue Whales, distinguished by their distribution and songs, could be a separate subspecies.
Globally, industrial-scale commercial whaling reduced the number of blue whales to an estimated ONE percent of their previous numbers. We may already have lost some subspecies or distinct populations forever without even realising.
For example, Indian Ocean pygmy blue whales are not the same as their Antarctic cousins. They face increasing threats from the industrialisation of our oceans, with ocean noise, ship strikes and habitat destruction being big dangers to their ongoing survival, as well as the global threat from climate change.
Greenpeace
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