The Largest Sea Animal in the World

There are some big fish in the sea but what is the largest sea animal in the world? Well, there is no creature on earth as big as one specific sea animal! The more you learn about this remarkable creature , the more unbelievable it is!

The Blue Whale

The Blue Whale is simply the biggest animal that has ever existed. Its tongue alone weighs the same as an elephant and their hearts as much as a car! Their entire weight can be around 200 tonnes and their mammoth size is similar to that of a Boeing 747 (80 to 105 feet long).

Below is an excellent video that truly shows how enormous this amazing sea creature is. Video credit: Facts in Motion

What do they eat?

Remarkably, Blue Whales feast on a diet of Krill, a small shrimp like creature, and consume up to 4 tonnes of Krill everyday! They do this by gulping in huge amounts of water. They then dispose of the water but keep the Krill in their stomachs.

Blue Whales tend to swim alone or in pairs and cruise at an average snails pace of 5 mph! However, if disturbed or agitated they are known to accelerate up to 20 mph.

As well as being the largest, Blue Whales are also known to be the loudest! The pulses and groans that they produce are said to be heard 1000 miles away by other whales! 1000 MILES AWAY!!

The Birth of a Blue Whale

A baby Blue Whale, known as a calf, is born after around 1 year of growth within the womb. When born they weigh up to 3 tonnes and can be approximately 25 feet in length. It feeds on its mother’s milk and will gain around 200 everyday for the first year.

Back in the early 1900’s, the Blue Whale was hunted so much that they almost became extinct. Up until around the 1960’s it was calculated that over 350,000 blue whales had been caught and slaughtered. The main purpose of this was for the whales oil. Fortunately, in the mid-sixties, the international whaling commission called for the Blue Whale to become a protected species. In 1966 they officially became protected and the hunting came to a halt.