Taxonomy
Most modern classifications split the minke whale into two species;
- Common minke whale or northern minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), and
- Antarctic minke whale or southern minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis).
Taxonomists further categorize the common minke whale into two or three subspecies; the North Atlantic minke whale, the North Pacific minke whale and dwarf minke whale. All minke whales are part of the rorquals, a family that includes the humpback whale, the fin whale, the Bryde's whale, the sei whale and the blue whale.
The junior synonyms for B. acutorostrata are B. davidsoni (Cope 1872), B. minimia (Rapp, 1837) and B. rostrata (Fabricius, 1780). There is one synonym for B. bonaerensis - B. huttoni (Gray 1874).
Writing in his 1998 classification, Rice recognized two of the subspecies of the common minke whale - B. a. scammoni (Scammon's minke whale) and a further (taxonomically) unnamed subspecies found in the Southern Hemisphere to which he gave the common name the dwarf minke whale (first described by Best, 1986).
On at least one occasion, an Antarctic minke whale has been confirmed migrating to the Arctic. In addition, at least one wild hybrid between a common minke whale and an Antarctic minke whale has been confirmed.
Read more about this topic: Minke Whale