page_title: Common minke whale
section_title: Dwarf form
hierarchical_section_title: Common minke whale / Description / Appearance / Dwarf form
caption_attribution_description: English: A minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata).
context_page_description: The common minke whale or northern minke whale 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.
context_section_description: The dwarf minke whale has similar proportions to the northern form, with an upright, hooked dorsal fin set about two-thirds the way along the back that is up to 32 to 34 cm (13 to 13 in) in height. It has 55 to 67 ventral grooves. Its baleen – 18 to 20 cm (7.1 to 7.9 in) in length – is mostly white, with up to 45 per cent of the posterior plates shading from black to dusky gray along their outer margins.
  The dwarf form has the most complex coloration of any baleen whale. Dark gray fields and capes alternate with light gray and white blazes, patches, and streaks. The dark gray spinal field lies above an ivory white ventral field. This spinal field extends down into a nape field, which separates a light gray rostral saddle and a light gray, triangular, usually forwardly peaked thorax patch. The nape field, in turn, extends even further down into a dark throat patch, which reaches down to the ventral pleats and extends back to the front of the pectoral fins. Further back the spinal field extends into a dark thorax field, which usually forms an inverted triangle between the thorax patch and the light gray flank patch. This flank patch can be separated into an anterior and posterior flank patch by a dark triangular or even wave-like flank infill. Finally, the dark peduncle field covers the posterior portion of the caudal peduncle to the tips of the dorsal side of the flukes, which are white ventrally and thinly bordered by dark gray.
  The most prominent features on the dwarf minke whale are the white flipper and shoulder blazes. The former covers the proximal two-thirds of the pectoral fin and continues along its leading edge, while the latter connects to the thorax patch above. A variably sized, dark oval auxiliary patch (formerly called a "flipper oval") lies behind the pectoral fin, often appearing to merge with the dark gray distal flipper patch, which occupies the distal third of the pectoral fin. This auxiliary patch is often completely separated from the thorax patch by the white of the shoulder blaze and a vertical extension of the ventral field, but can also narrowly or even broadly attach to it. A mandible blaze usually covers the posterior third of the right lower jaw, while the left side is normally dark gray. Similarly, a white eye blaze is usually present on the right side, but rarely on the left. The rostral saddle likewise shows asymmetrical coloration, extending further on the right side than on the left and having a more well defined posterior right margin; the left, meanwhile, often has a diffuse posterior margin. A white peduncle blaze extends up from the ventral field, being bordered on each side by light gray double caudal chevrons, which extend down from the peduncle field and flank patch, respectively.
  A variably shaped, thin, light gray line, called the nape streak (analogous to the "shoulder streak" or "chevron" of the northern form), extends laterally down the back between the pectoral fins. It can point forward, backwards or form a straight line; this variability can help to identify individual whales. A pair of light gray blowhole streaks extend posteriorly behind the blowholes, often curving to the left – the left more strongly than the right. Occasionally fine ear stripes may be present behind the opening of the auditory meatus, while dark or light speckling or streaking can occur along the flanks as well as what are called tiger stripes – "parallel, dark, usually vertical stripes".
  Like Bryde's whale (and occasionally blue and fin whales), dwarf minkes can exhibit auxiliary ridges on either side of the central ridge of the rostrum.
caption: Dwarf minke whale showing prominent white flipper and shoulder blazes, the light gray thorax patch, and the various dark gray dorsal fields
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