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| Rorquals[2] Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Parvorder: | Mysticeti |
| Superfamily: | Balaenopteroidea |
| Family: | Balaenopteridae Gray 1864 |
| Type genus | |
| Balaenoptera Lacépède, 1804
| |
| Extant genera | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Eschrichtiidae? Ellerman & Morrison-Scott 1951 | |
Rorquals (/ˈrɔːrkwəlz/) are the largest group of baleen whales, comprising the family Balaenopteridae, which contains nine extant species in two genera. They include the largest known animal that has ever lived, the blue whale, which can reach 180 tonnes (200 short tons), and the fin whale, which reaches 120 tonnes (130 short tons); even the smallest of the group, the northern minke whale, reaches 9 tonnes (10 short tons).
Rorquals take their name from French rorqual, which derives from the Norwegian word røyrkval: the first element røyr originated from the Old Norse name for this type of whale, reyðr,[3] probably related to the Norse word for "red", and the second from the Norse word hvalr meaning "whale" in general.[4] The family name Balaenopteridae is from the type genus, Balaenoptera.
- ^ "Family Balaenopteridae Gray 1864 (rorqual)". Fossilworks. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
- ^ Mead, J. G.; Brownell, R. L. Jr. (2005). "Order Cetacea". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 723–743. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ "rorqual". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.): "ad. Norw. røyrkval, repr. ON. *røyðar-, OIcel. reyðar-hvalr, f. reyðurreyðr the specific name + hvalr whale."
- ^ The Century Dictionary. 1895. p. 5228.
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