Original reference for the 67 ft male cited in the lead and size section The claim that a 67 9 ft 20 7 m male was caught off the Kuril Islands by a Soviet fleet in the summer of 1950 has been repeated by Guinness World Record books since at least 1970 I m guessing the original reference for it is the International Whaling Statistics or perhaps some Russian paper Does anyone now the origins of it I know of longer reported lengths but none approaching that length that were measured by scientists the longest I know of was a 60 ft male brought to the Coal Harbour whaling station on the west coast of Vancouver Island in 1954 which was measured by biologist Gordon Pike or one of his assistants