NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Common Minke Whale
Balaenoptera acutorostrata Lacépède, 1804
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The common minke whale or northern minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) is a species of minke whale within the suborder of baleen whales.
It is the smallest species of the rorquals and the second smallest species of baleen whale. Although first ignored by whalers due to its small size and low oil yield, it began to be exploited by various countries beginning in the early 20th century. As other species declined, larger numbers of common minke whales were caught, largely for their meat. It is now one of the primary targets of the whaling industry. There is a dwarf form in the Southern Hemisphere.
This species is known in the fossil record from the Pliocene epoch to the Quaternary period (age range: 4.7 million years ago to present day).
Wikipedia contributors, Common minke whale; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:11:55.949259+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Balaenoptera acutorostrata Lacépède, 1804
- Name authority
- Lacépède, 1804
- Common name
- Common Minke Whale
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Cetacea
- Family
- Balaenopteridae
- Genus
- Balaenoptera
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderCetacea Brisson, 1762
- suborderMysticeti Flower, 1864
- familyBalaenopteridae Gray, 1864
- genusBalaenoptera Lacépède, 1804
- speciesBalaenoptera acutorostrata Lacépède, 1804
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Balaenoptera. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Omura's WhaleBalaenoptera omurai Wada, Oishi & Yamada, 2003 | BalaenopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rice's whaleBalaenoptera ricei Rosel, Wilcox, Yamada & Mullin, 2021 | BalaenopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sei WhaleBalaenoptera borealis Lesson, 1828 | BalaenopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bryde's whaleBalaenoptera edeni Anderson, 1879 | BalaenopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Blue WhaleBalaenoptera musculus (Linnaeus, 1758) | BalaenopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Fin WhaleBalaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758) | BalaenopteridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Balaena minima Rapp, 1837 Rapp, 1837 | synonym |
| Balaena rostrata Fabricius, 1780 Fabricius, 1780 | ambiguous synonym |
| Balaenoptera rostrata (Fabricius, 1780) (Fabricius, 1780) | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Eastern Atlantic Ocean
Indo-West Pacific
Western Atlantic Ocean
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180524 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:KF8K. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.