The dorsal fin of the orca, or killer whale, towers up to six feet tall. These stocky, muscular whales grow to a length of 33 feet and weigh up to 12,000 pounds. They are shiny and black in color, with distinctive white patches around the eyes, mouth and back. An efficient hunter, the sharp-toothed orca feeds on a diverse diet of fish, squid, seals, turtles and birds. Orcas live in close-knit pods of 6 to 40 whales. Male orcas live for 50 to 60 years, while females can live to be as old as 90.
Measuring up to 88 feet long and weighing in at 50 to 70 tons, the fin whale is the second largest creature on earth (just behind the blue whale). Like the blue and other baleen whales, the fin whale feeds by taking in massive amounts of water into its mouth, then filtering out shrimp, krill and small fish through bristly plates on its upper and lower jaw. The slightly curved dorsal fin protrudes at the far back of the fin whale's body.
At 30 feet long and weighing 10 tons, the minke whale is the second smallest of the baleen whales. Grey and white in color, the minke has a prominent head ridge and a dorsal fin at the rear third of its slender, streamlined body. Minke whales are notable for their strange, metallic, almost robotic-sounding vocalizations. Unlike their larger relatives, the blue and the humpback whale, minke whales have never been hunted by commercial whaling operations.
The sei (pronounced say) whale resembles the fin whale, but has a smaller and more curved dorsal fin. At 25 to 50 feet and weighing 40 tons, the sei is the third largest of the baleen whales, behind the fin and blue whales. The fastest of the large whales, the sei hits a top speed of 40 mph. Commercial hunting of the sei whale began in the 17th century, after the depletion of blue and fin whale populations. A 1982 estimate by the Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program counts sei whale Atlantic stock at as few as 2,200 individuals.