The flippers are long and slender and about one seventh of body length. The fin is visible briefly before the whale arches its back in preparation for the dive. Its tail stock may arch and its flukes may be visible but often they simply sink below the surface. Blue whales rarely ever breach clear of the water. Juveniles have been observed breaching and landing on their sides or stomaches.
Some individuals are easy to approach while others can be difficult.
Most Blue whales live in the Southern Hemisphere while smaller populations inhabit the North Atlantic and North Pacific. Before mans intervention there were 228,000 Blue whales swimming the oceans of the world. Between 1904 and 1978, whalers scoured the seas for this huge cetacean, most were taken in the southern hemisphere, many against the law. Current figures suggest that a mere 11,700 animals are left. As the population figure suggests, it was ruthlessly and relentlessly slaughtered for every reason imaginable, almost to the point of extinction.