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Balaenoptera musculus

Blue Whale

Balaenoptera musculus, Blue Whale
(c) azure27014, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · via inaturalist, stored and served from this site. These bytes do not match the digest in the deposit: the file was replaced with the same photograph at full resolution and the record was not updated. Checked against iNaturalist photo 144016335.
Red List, global
EN
Endangered, 2018
First CITES listing
I
Appendix I, 1975
CITES trade records
198
1982–2023 · exporter-reported
Unit dimensions
5
reported separately, never summed
NAMMCO catch entries
none
NAMMCO reports a subset of marine mammals
Seizure records
6
reported taxon matches

One of 43: each square a species, coloured by its latest global Red List category, this one ringed. Blue Whale is among the cetaceans.

In summary derived

Balaenoptera musculus, Blue Whale, is placed in family Balaenopteridae, order Cetacea, class Mammalia. The earliest CITES listing row the corpus holds for it is Appendix I, dated 1975. The corpus records 1 dated listing row in total.

Its latest global Red List assessment is Endangered, published 2018. It carries 4 earlier global assessments on the current scale and 5 on scales that were superseded before the current categories and cannot be compared with them. An assessment at European Union (27 member states) scope records Near Threatened. This site reports the global category; the two are not interchangeable.

The corpus holds 198 exporter-reported CITES trade records for it, from 1982 to 2023, reported across 5 unit dimensions. The most frequently recorded term is specimens: 146 records across 5 unit dimensions, of which 111 are measured in specimens. The corpus holds no NAMMCO catch records for it. 6 seizure records are attributed to it, being those whose reported taxon matches the species.

Composed from 17 corpus fields, by template, with no model
  • species.class
  • species.family
  • species.order_name
  • species_catch.catch_total
  • species_iucn.is_global
  • species_iucn.scope_code
  • species_iucn.status
  • species_iucn.year_published
  • species_listing.appendix
  • species_listing.listing_date
  • species_seizure.*
  • species_trade.dimension
  • species_trade.first_year
  • species_trade.last_year
  • species_trade.record_count
  • species_trade.reporter_type
  • species_trade.term

Each sentence is generated from the columns above and nothing else. The same corpus produces the same text every time. Where a field is absent the sentence is omitted rather than hedged.

Overview curated

Taxonomy entered by a named curator and versioned in the repository.

Class
Mammalia
Order
Cetacea
Family
Balaenopteridae
First CITES listing
1975
Global Red List status
ENEndangered, assessed 2018
Regional status (EU 27)
NTRegional, 2023. Not the species status.
Content withheld pending expert review

8 narrative sections for this species were machine-drafted and are not shown. No subject expert has reviewed and signed them.

Trade derived

CITES Trade Database v2025.1, extracted 13 June 2025.

There is no single trade total

Quantities are reported per unit dimension, per traded term, and per reporting side. These are not additive: kilograms and individual animals have no common unit, a live animal is not a carving, and an importer report and an exporter report are two accounts of one shipment rather than two shipments.

Figures below are exporter-reported.

count in specimens
160
mass in kg
30
packaging in containers
4
area in m²
2
volume in L
2

Records per dimension. Not additive across units.

Trade over time

listed 19751982: 1 records1985: 1 records1989: 1 records1991: 1 records1992: 1 records1993: 1 records1994: 1 records1995: 5 records1997: 5 records1998: 5 records1999: 12 records2000: 7 records2001: 4 records2002: 3 records2003: 6 records2005: 4 records2006: 7 records2007: 3 records2008: 4 records2009: 8 records2010: 7 records2011: 11 records2012: 5 records2013: 6 records2014: 10 records2015: 7 records2016: 5 records2017: 8 records2018: 18 records2019: 11 records2020: 2 records2021: 1 records2022: 4 records2023: 23 records19801990200020102020
Peak 23 records in 2023. Trade records per year, exporter-reported, every term and unit counted as records, not quantities.
listed 19751985: 1 specimens1992: 12 specimens1994: 2 specimens1995: 69 specimens1997: 160 specimens1998: 6 specimens1999: 365 specimens2000: 52 specimens2001: 56 specimens2002: 58 specimens2003: 130 specimens2005: 154 specimens2006: 301 specimens2007: 133 specimens2008: 442 specimens2009: 330 specimens2010: 357 specimens2011: 170 specimens2012: 60 specimens2013: 445 specimens2014: 357 specimens2015: 256 specimens2016: 35 specimens2017: 449 specimens2018: 233 specimens2019: 4 specimens2020: 20 specimens2021: 1 specimens2022: 13 specimens19801990200020102020
Peak 449 specimens in 2017. Quantity of specimens, the term with most records (111), in specimens, exporter-reported. Other terms are in the tables below, each in its own unit.

count measured in specimens

160 of 198 records carry a quantity in specimens. CITES leaves the unit blank to mean a count of the term.

Top 8 of 9. Bars count trade records per term, not specimens, all sources combined; the table splits them by source and gives the quantity in specimens.
TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
specimens4,331 specimens1041992–2022W
bones175 specimens231989–2023W
baleen19 specimens42014–2019W
carvings3 specimens32010–2019O
specimens135 specimens32011–2018O
bone carvings3 specimens32010–2018W
skin pieces260 specimens32009–2011W
skins70 specimens31997–2005W
bones2 specimens21999–2023O
skeletons2 specimens22000–2023W
specimens200 specimens22015X
specimens1 specimen11985not recorded

Showing the 12 term and source combinations with the most records, of 19.

mass measured in kg

30 of 198 records carry a quantity in kg.

Bars count trade records per term, not kg, all sources combined; the table splits them by source and gives the quantity in kg.
TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
specimens1.18 kg231991–2020W
specimens0.02 kg42019O
skeletons2,500 kg11999O
skin pieces0.00270 kg12019W
skins0.000400 kg12013W

packaging measured in containers

4 of 198 records carry a quantity in containers.

TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
specimens68 containers41995–2002W

area measured in m²

2 of 198 records carry a quantity in m². Area is the surface of the item traded as the Party reported it, for example a skin sample in square centimetres; every area unit is converted to m².

TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
specimens0.00200 m²22003–2006W

volume measured in L

2 of 198 records carry a quantity in L.

TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
specimens0.43 L22022W

CITES listings curated

CoP decisions, cross-checked against the appendix reported on trade records.

DateAppendixAnnotationStatus
1975-07-01Inonefirst listing

Convention on Migratory Species

Listed under CMS: Appendix I. Also covered by Pacific Islands Cetaceans, which are separate instruments with their own annexes.

IUCN Red List derived

Assessment history. Scope is always stated: a regional assessment is not the species status.

This history crosses a criteria revision

Categories from before 2001 come from earlier Red List systems. Three kinds are kept apart.

LR/lc and LR/nt are the modern LC and NT under their old names, so they are plotted as those categories and the line runs through them: nothing changed but the wording.

LR/cd was discontinued with no successor. This project reads it as Near Threatened, following a published crosswalk between the old and new Red List systems, and the chart marks such a point hollow and names both codes, because placing a category is not the same as finding it published.

The pre-1994 codes (E, V, K, T and the rest) are not on the risk order at all, so they sit below the axis and the line breaks across them. A category change across a criteria revision is not a change in extinction risk, and none of these is scored as a movement: the ledger refuses every one of them at gate 3.

LCNTVUENCR19651970198019902000201020231996: Endangered (global)2007: Endangered (global)2008: Endangered (global)2018: Endangered (global) 2 assessments share this position; they are listed separately in the table below.?1965: Not applicable, which records that no assessment was made — carries no position on the risk order1986: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1988: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1990: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1994: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order2023: Near Threatened, assessed at European Union (27 member states) scope, not the global statusEU 27LCNTVUENCR1965198019902000201020231996: Endangered (global)2007: Endangered (global)2008: Endangered (global)2018: Endangered (global) 2 assessments share this position; they are listed separately in the table below.?1965: Not applicable, which records that no assessment was made — carries no position on the risk order1986: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1988: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1990: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1994: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order2023: Near Threatened, assessed at European Union (27 member states) scope, not the global statusEU 27
  • published global assessment
  • not on this scale (below the axis)
  • regional assessment, never joined
Vertical position is the IUCN risk order, not a measured quantity: the gaps between categories are equal on the page and not in nature. Anything that is not one of the nine modern categories carries no position on that order — Data Deficient, a superseded category, or a record that no assessment was made — so it sits below the axis and the line breaks across it rather than joining through. Each point names which it is. 5 global assessments are drawn at 4 positions: one position carries more than one assessment of the same category in the same year, and the table below lists them separately. Regional assessments are shown but never joined to global ones; they describe a different population. The dashed step crosses the 2001 revision of the Red List criteria: the category codes on either side match, the criteria behind them do not, so the step is shown and not measured.

Category movement since listing: not scored. Gate 3: the baseline category E comes from a pre-2001 Red List system and is not on the modern ordinal scale. How this is defined and why some species are not scored

YearCategoryMeaningScopeStatus
2023NTNear ThreatenedEU 27current for this scope
2018ENEndangeredGlobalcurrent for this scope
2018ENEndangeredGlobala republished version of the 2018 assessment
2008ENEndangeredGlobal
2007ENEndangeredGlobal
1996ENEndangeredGlobal
1994EEndangered (pre-1994 criteria)Global
1990EEndangered (pre-1994 criteria)Global
1988EEndangered (pre-1994 criteria)Global
1986EEndangered (pre-1994 criteria)Global
1965N/ANot applicableGlobal

Reported catch derived

NAMMCO catch exports dated 11 June 2025. A reported zero is stored as zero, distinct from an unknown.

No NAMMCO catch records for this species. NAMMCO reports on a subset of marine mammals, so an absence here is expected for most species and does not mean no catch occurred.

Illegal trade seizures derived

Seizure records whose reported taxon resolves to this species.

What the seizure source records

6 seizure records name this species. Matching is on the taxon the source reported, case aside, and each record below shows the reported name, so a match that is not literal can be seen for what it is. Across the whole compilation, 225 of 919 rows match one of the 43 species and the rest name other taxa.

Quantities are unitless. The source gives no date or place, so the table shows the product and the reported taxon.

Records per product, not a quantity.
ProductReported as
boneBalaenoptera musculus
bone pieceBalaenoptera musculus
earbalaenoptera musculus
meatBalaenoptera musculus
specimenbalaenoptera musculus
specimenBalaenoptera musculus

References withheld

Machine-proposed bindings. Shown only where an expert has signed the profile and the binding is live.

No references are recorded for this species: none is shown, and none was machine-proposed for review.

Timeline curated

Curated events. Those with no corroborating table in this database are marked.

DateEventTypeCorroboration
2023-12-08IUCN Red List Assessment (Europe)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments, which records this assessment at EU 27 scope
2018IUCN Red List Assessment (2018)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2008IUCN Red List Assessment (2008)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2007IUCN Red List Assessment (2007)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1996IUCN Red List Assessment (1996)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1994IUCN Red List Assessment (1994)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1990IUCN Red List Assessment (1990)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1988IUCN Red List Assessment (1988)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1986IUCN Red List Assessment (1986)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1975-07-01Listed in CITES Appendix Icites_listingchecked against cites_listings
1965IUCN Red List Assessment (1965)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments

One event names a scope the assessment table does not. The year matches and the category matches; the geography does not, and neither record can be corrected from this page. Both are shown as they stand rather than reconciled into one.