New population of Blue whales in western Indian Ocean

Scientists have recently discovered a new population of Blue Whales in the Western Indian Ocean. The blue whale is a marine mammal of baleen whale suborder Mysticeti. At present, Blue Whales have 5 subspecies- Balaenoptera musculus, intermedia, brevicauda, indicia, and one unnamed species. They are highly endangered mammals and are the largest mammal.

Key Points related to the discovery

• A team of researchers has analyzed the sound recordings of Blue Whales in the Western Indian Ocean.
• Blue Whales are found across the globe in all oceans and sing very low-pitched and recognizable songs.
• Each Blue Whale population has its own unique song.
• After analyzing the sound recordings from the Madagascar and Arabian Sea coast of Oman; the researchers found a new Blue Whale song that was never heard before.
• According to the researchers, this blue whale population was previously assumed to belong to the population studied in Sri Lanka.
• But the new study found that the recorded songs in the two regions are different.

The study of researchers was published in a journal named Endangered Species Research. As per scientists, the discovery of a new population indicates that there is a lot more to study about these mammals yet.

Blue Whale Features

Blue Whales have a maximum length of 29.9 meters and a maximum weight of 173 tonnes. They have a long greyish-blue body that appears blue in water and that is why they are called Blue Whales.