The blue whale belongs to the rorqual family and its scientific name is Balenaenoptera musclus, which means the winged whale and it is also known to whalers as the sulphur bottom whale. They are able to communicate with each other by emitting low frequency sounds which can travel hundreds of miles through the water. They are the largest mammals to inhabit the earth and can usually be found in pairs or small groups. Blue whales are baleen whales and have plates of baleen instead of teeth.

The blue whale has a grey mottled appearance on the surface of the water and a beautiful blue colour under the surface of the water. It has tiny plant like creatures covering their body these give a yellow appearance on the stomach of the blue whale and this is where the name 'sulphur bottom whale' is derived from. The head of the blue whale is almost 'U' shaped and its large nostrils are set behind a splashguard. The nostrils produce the most spectacular blow of all of the species of whale.

The length of the adult blue whale can reach up to 30m or 100ft, although according to some reports the largest whale ever caught measured 33.5m or 110ft, with the female being larger than the male. The weight of an adult blue whale is thought to be approximately between 100 and 150 tons but could be anything up to 200 tons.

Blue whales consume more food than any other whale and feed almost exclusively on krill. The female blue whale can consume 3 to 4% of their body weight in the summer feeding season this can equate to around 6 to 8 tons of krill a day. There are around 270-395 plates of baleen are located on the upper part of each side of the whales mouth, these plates consist of keratin, a fingernail type material and measure 50cm, they fray out into fine hairs and this allows the whale to filter out water and retain the krill.

Whales become sexually active around 6-10 years of age and like the majority of baleen whales the breeding season of the blue whale is strongly seasonal. After a gestation period of 11 months the calf is born in late winter and is an average of 8m or 26ft long and weighs approximately 4 tons. The female blue whales produce a calf every two to three years and nurse their young on a fat rich milk allowing the calf to grow an average of 2 to 3 cm a day.

First grade oil from the blubber which is edible was used for the manufacturing of margarine, and also in the production of soft soap. Oil was also extracted from meat and bones after they were pressure cooked. Meat extract was also produced from the meat and was very edible similar to branded meat extract drinks. The liver was also processed to produce liver oil for medicinal purposes. The meat residue from the pressure cookers was rendered down to make cattle feed and fertilizers. The baleen plates from the mouth which in the olden days were used for stays for ladies corsets but in modern whaling the baleen plates were discarded.