World’s 2nd Biggest Animal Spotted Off Croatian Island

A fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), which is the second largest animal after the blue whale, has been spotted 7 miles off the coast of the island of Dugi Otok on Croatia’s Dalmatian coast on Monday…

According to reports on Croatian radio, the fin whale seen near Dugi Otok this morning was a young fin whale measuring over 10 metres in length. The fin whale can grow up to 27.3 metres in length, and can weigh nearly 74 tonnes when grown. The American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews called the fin whale “the greyhound of the sea… for its beautiful, slender body is built like a racing yacht and the animal can surpass the speed of the fastest ocean steamship.”

The fin whale is found in all the major oceans, from polar to tropical waters, and it is not the first time the it has been spotted in Croatian waters. In 2010 one was filmed near Palagruža, and a 25-metre one was spotted in 2012 between the islands of Hvar and Vis.

(photo credit / Aqqa Rosing-Asvid – Visit Greenland – Flickr – Wikimedia)