Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 128, August 2015, pp. 1-18. | Page 9

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Prof. Dr. Norman Ali Bassam Khalaf-von Jaffa standing beside the Skeleton of the 24meters Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) which stranded on the Kazma (Kadmah)
coast in Kuwait in 1963 and is displayed at the Educational Science Museum in Kuwait.
Photo by: Nora Norman Ali Khalaf. 24.06.2014.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/14570211265/

Description and Behaviour
The blue whale has a long tapering body that appears stretched in comparison
with the stockier build of other whales. The head is flat, U-shaped and has a
prominent ridge running from the blowhole to the top of the upper lip. The front
part of the mouth is thick with baleen plates; around 300 plates (each around one
metre (3.2 feet) long) hang from the upper jaw, running 0.5 m (1.6 feet) back into
the mouth. Between 70 and 118 grooves (called ventral pleats) run along the
throat parallel to the body length. These pleats assist with evacuating water from
the mouth after lunge feeding (Wikipedia).
The dorsal fin is small, ranging in height from 8–70 centimeters (3.1–27.6 in)
(usually 20–40 centimeters (7.9–15.7 in)) and averaging about 28 centimetres
(11 in). It is visible only briefly during the dive sequence. Located around threequarters of the way along the length of the body, it varies in shape from one
individual to another; some only have a barely perceptible lump, but others may
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 128 – August 2015