Southern fin whale
The southern fin whale is a subspecies of fin whale that lives in the Southern Ocean. At least one other subspecies of fin whale, the northern fin whale, exists in the Northern Hemisphere.
Taxonomy
Based on differences in the vertebrae, the Swedish zoologist Einar Lönnberg designated Balaenoptera physalus quoyii. B. p. quoyi in turn is based on Balaena quoyi, which was the name given to a specimen seen on the shores of the Falkland Islands by Monsieur Quoy and originally named Balaena rostrata australis by Desmoulins.
Size
Southern fin whales are larger than their northern hemisphere counterparts, with males averaging and females. Maximum reported figures are for males and for females, while the longest measured by Mackintosh and Wheeler were and ; although Major F. A. Spencer, while whaling inspector of the factory ship Southern Princess, confirmed the length of a female caught in the Antarctic south of the southern Indian Ocean. At sexual maturity, males average and females.
Reproduction
Because of the opposing seasons in each hemisphere, B. p. quoyi breeds at a different time of the year than B. p. physalus. Peak conception for B. p. quoyi is June–July, while peak birthing is in May. Along with the impacts of whaling, slower reproduction rate of the species may affect population recoveries as the total population size is predicted to be at less than 50% of its pre-whaling state by 2100.