How Much Does a Whale Weigh?
Whales are amazing animals. They come in different sizes, from small ones like the dwarf sperm whales to huge ones like the blue whale, which can weigh more than 190 tons. They are some of the largest creatures ever on Earth. Here’s a list of the top ten heaviest whale species in the world, ranked from the heaviest to the lightest, based on their confirmed weights in pounds:
- Blue whale – 410,000 lbs.
- North Atlantic right whale – 230,000 lbs.
- Bowhead whale – 220,000 lbs.
- Humpback whale – 198,000 lbs.
- North Pacific/Southern right whale – 176,000 lbs.
- Fin whale – 163,000 lbs.
- Sperm whale – 126,000 lbs.
- Sei whale – 83,000 lbs.
- Gray whale – 79,000 lbs.
- Bryde’s whale – 55,000 lbs.
Every type of whale is different. They each have their own habits and traits that make them special. Below, we’ll talk about each kind of whale, where they live, how they move around, and how much they usually weigh.
1. Blue Whale
Some blue whales can weigh more than 400,000 pounds. Blue whales are the biggest animals ever known to have lived on Earth, even bigger than dinosaurs. They can be as long as 90 feet.
Female blue whales usually weigh a bit more, around 200,000 to 240,000 pounds on average, while males weigh between 170,000 and 200,000 pounds.
Blue whales are split into five different groups, each living in different parts of the world’s big oceans. They travel in different ways depending on which group they belong to. Blue whales eat krill, which they filter through their baleen, like a comb, catching the tiny creatures in their hair.
Back in the late 1800s, the whaling industry hunted many whales, including blue whales, a lot. This made their numbers drop a lot. To help save whales, the International Whaling Commission was created. Even now, blue whales are still in danger. It’s thought that there are only about 10,000 to 25,000 of them left in the world.
Image Source: https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/animals/whales/blue-whale/
2. North Atlantic Right Whale
The biggest North Atlantic right whales weigh about 230,000 pounds. These whales are the largest type of right whale, usually weighing between 80,000 and 150,000 pounds when they’re adults.
North Atlantic right whales are in a lot of danger. There are only about 400 of them left in the whole world.
You can spot these whales because they have white marks on their heads. They live in the ocean from the southern United States up to New England, and even along the western coasts of Europe.
Image Source: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/north-atlantic-right-whale
3. Bowhead Whale
The bowhead whale lives in the coldest parts of the Arctic Ocean. It has gotten used to living in these very cold waters. To help them stay warm, they have really thick layers of blubber, up to 2 feet thick in some parts of their bodies. This makes them very heavy.
The biggest bowhead whales can weigh as much as 220,000 pounds. These whales were among the first to be heavily hunted by whalers. Three groups of bowhead whales are now considered endangered.
Bowhead whales like to live in the cold waters of the Arctic and sub-Arctic oceans.
- Read more about: Bowhead whales
4. Humpback Whale
One of the biggest female humpback whales ever weighed about 198,000 pounds. Usually, they weigh between 40,000 and 60,000 pounds.
Humpback whales live in many different places around the world, so their size can vary a lot. They travel a lot, moving up to 16,000 miles, depending on their group. You can often see humpback whales on whale-watching trips.
Read more about: Humpback whales
5. Northern Pacific and Southern Right Whales
These two types of right whales weigh up to 176,000 pounds at their heaviest.
Both of these types of right whales are baleen whales. The main difference is where they live. Southern right whales can be found anywhere in the southern half of the world and move between the southern coasts of Antarctica, South America, and Africa. The Northern Pacific right whales are in more danger of disappearing and are usually found in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska.
- Read more about: Northern Pacific and Southern Right Whales
- Humpback Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpback_whale
6. Fin Whale
The fin whale is one of the biggest whales, usually weighing around 100,000 pounds on average. The heaviest recorded one weighed about 163,000 pounds.
Fin whales like to stay in the deep waters far from the shore in all the big oceans. They move between the Arctic and Antarctic waters all year, and they mate in warmer waters.
Sometimes fin whales mate with blue whales, creating hybrids.
- Read more about: Fin whales
- Fin Whale Image Source: https://www.treehugger.com/fin-whales-endangered-5210936
7. Sperm Whale
Sperm whales are also known as cachalots. Unlike some other whales, they have teeth. They’re the biggest predators with teeth.
The heaviest sperm whale ever recorded weighed 126,000 pounds. Usually, they weigh between 77,000 and 130,000 pounds.
Sperm whales are famous because of the book “Moby Dick.” They were hunted a lot in the past, and now people worry about them disappearing forever.
Sperm whales face dangers from fishing and ships because they live in waters where boats often go.
- Read more about: Sperm Whales
- Sperm Whale Image Source: https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/to-do/wildlife/sperm-whale
8. Sei Whale
Sei whales like to live far from the shore in deep waters in almost all the oceans.
The heaviest sei whale ever weighed about 83,000 pounds, but usually, they weigh between 24,000 and 34,000 pounds.
Sei whales eat tiny sea creatures like krill and plankton. They’re still in danger of disappearing, but things are getting better because there are rules now to stop too much hunting.
- Read more about: Sei Whales
- Sei Whale image source: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/sei-whale
9. Gray Whale
Gray whales usually weigh between 34,000 and 70,000 pounds, but the biggest one ever found weighed about 79,000 pounds.
You can often see gray whales in the northern Pacific Ocean, near Asia’s northeast coast and North America’s northwest coast. Scientists think their numbers and where they have babies might be going back to how they were before people hunted them a lot.
Gray whales travel a long way when they migrate—more than 22,000 kilometers. That’s the longest migration ever recorded for any animal.
- Read more about: Gray Whales
- Gray Whale Image Source: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/eschrichtius-robustus
10. Bryde’s Whale
Bryde’s whale is actually a group of two to three kinds of big whales called rorquals. Scientists are still learning about them, so they call them the Bryde’s whale complex.
The most common Bryde’s whale likes warm tropical waters in the oceans. They mostly eat anchovies. Sometimes people mistake them for sei whales, but Bryde’s whales are smaller.
The heaviest Bryde’s whale ever weighed was about 56,000 pounds. Usually, they weigh between 26,000 and 55,000 pounds. Bryde’s whales are not in danger of disappearing, so they’re not on the list of animals to worry about.
- Read more about: Bryde’s whale
- Bryde’s Whale Image Source: https://www.adventurebirding.lk/brydes-whale-balaenoptera-edeni/
Sources
https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/marine-mammals/what-largest-whale-cetacea-size-comparison-chart
https://2seewhales.com/blog/how-big-are-whales/
https://dinoanimals.com/animals/largest-biggest-heaviest-whales-top-10/
https://en.wikipedia.org/
https://www.worldwildlife.org/
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/
https://www.acsonline.org/
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