What is the scientific name of the blue whale?

The scientific name of the blue whale is Balaenoptera musculus. It identifies the blue whale as a species in the rorqual family Balaenopteridae, a group of baleen whales that includes fin and humpback whales.

The genus name Balaenoptera is commonly translated as “winged whale,” while musculus has been interpreted as meaning either “muscle” or “little mouse.” The latter possibility may reflect a wordplay attributed to Carl Linnaeus when he named the species in 1758.

Blue whales are baleen whales, so they filter food from seawater rather than using teeth. Their main prey is usually krill. Despite their enormous size, they feed by taking in huge volumes of water and then pushing that water through plates of baleen that retain the small crustaceans.

Several other whale names in the options belong to different species. Balaena mysticetus is the bowhead whale, Megaptera novaeangliae is the humpback whale, and Balaenoptera physalus is the fin whale. The blue whale's species name is musculus.