Fin+Whale

=Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus)= The Fin Whale is long, and very streamlined, with a pointed snout and V-shaped blowhole. The whale also has long throat grooves which allow it to expand to filter food out of the water through its large baleen plates. 

The Fin Whale is found in all oceans but prefers temperate and polar water over warmer ocean, as well as deep water instead of shallow or costal waters. They migrate north to cooler waters in the summer and south during winter.
 * Location and Habitat**

The Fin Whale is the second largest whale, weighing at 45,360 - 63,500 kg, and measuring in at 24 - 26.8 meters. The whales are solitary animals but can sometimes be found in groups of 3 - 7 other whales. They reach reproductive age at 6 to 10 years, and normally produce one offspring at a time. Mating and calving occur in warmer subtropical waters during the winter. They then travel to arctic waters for feeding during the summer, where they consume schooling fish, euphausiids, and krill, which composes their diet. They eat at least 1,800 kg per day.
 * Niche**

This animal is the only other animal that could fill the niche left behind by the Bowhead Whale if it were to go extinct. This is because there is no other animal than the Fin Whale that feeds on animals as small as the ones the Bowhead Whale does in waters as cold and far north as the Bowhead lives in.
 * Population Expansion**

Although the Fin Whale is endangered, its population is far greater, around 40,000 in the northern hemisphere, than that of the Bowhead, which only has around 8,000 in total. Predicting how long it would take for the Fin Whale to take over would be hard since whales and whale popuations are hard to track, and there is not as much data on them as there is with other animals.
 * Species in Competition**


 * Bibliography**

Fin Whale. (2009). American Cetacean Society Fact Sheet. Retrieved from American Cetacean Society website: http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/finwhl.htm

Balaenoptera physalus Fin Whale. (n.d.). Retrieved from MarineBio website: http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=40

Balcomb, K. and S. Minasian. 1984. //The World's Whales//. Smithsonian Books. W. W. Norton, New York. 