rorqual
nounUS /ˈɹɔɹkwəl/ · UK /ˈɹɔːkwəl/
Etymology From Norwegian Nynorsk røyrkval, from Old Norse reyðarhvalr (“fin whale”).
1
Any whale of family Balaenopteridae, with longitudinal skin folds running from below the mouth to the navel, allowing the capacity of the mouth to expand greatly when feeding.
- Now then, the biggest whales, those rorqual whales that frequent the waterways of the Aleutian Islands, have never exceeded a length of 56 meters--if they reach even that.2001 [1873], Frederick Paul Walter, transl., 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas, Wikisource / Project Gutenberg, translation of Vingt mille lieues sous les mers by Jules Verne:
- Synonyms
- balaenopterid
- Derived terms
- lesser rorqual, Sibbald's rorqual
- Related terms
- baleen