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| unranked_subordo = Cetacea | unranked_superfamilia = Mysticeti | familia = Balaenopteridae | genus = ''Balaenoptera'' | species = ''B. borealis'' | binomial = ''Balaenoptera borealis'' | binomial_authority = Lesson, 1828 | range_map = Cypron-Range Balaenoptera borealis.svg | range_map_caption = Sei whale range | subdivision_ranks = Subspecies | subdivision = *''B.b.borealis'' *''B.b.schlegellli'' | synonyms = *''Balaena rostrata'' Rudolphi, 1822 *''Balaenoptera laticeps'' Gray, 1846 *''Sibbaldius laticeps'' Flower, 1864 *''Physalus laticeps'' Flower, 1864 *''Rudolphius laticeps'' Gray, 1868 }} The sei whale ( or ), ''Balaenoptera borealis,'' is a baleen whale, the fourth-largest rorqual after the blue whale, the fin whale and the humpback whale.〔 〕 It inhabits most oceans and adjoining seas, and prefers deep offshore waters.〔 〕 It avoids polar and tropical waters and semi-enclosed bodies of water. The sei whale migrates annually from cool and subpolar waters in summer to winter in temperate and subtropical waters.〔 Reaching long and weighing as much as ,〔 〕 the sei whale daily consumes an average of of food, primarily copepods, krill, and other zooplankton.〔 〕 It is among the fastest of all cetaceans, and can reach speeds of up to (27 knots) over short distances.〔 The whale's name comes from the Norwegian word for pollock, a fish that appears off the coast of Norway at the same time of the year as the sei whale.〔 〕 Following large-scale commercial whaling during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when over 255,000 whales were taken,〔 〕〔Berzin, A. 2008. ''The Truth About Soviet Whaling'' (Marine Fisheries Review), pp. 57–8.〕 the sei whale is now internationally protected,〔 although limited hunting occurs under a controversial research program conducted by Japan.〔 〕 , its worldwide population was about 80,000, nearly a third of its pre-whaling population.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=NOAA, Office of Protected Resources )〕 ==Etymology== ''Sei'' is the Norwegian word for pollock, also referred to as coalfish, a close relative of codfish. Sei whales appeared off the coast of Norway at the same time as the pollock, both coming to feed on the abundant plankton.〔 The specific name is the Latin word ''borealis'', meaning northern. In the Pacific, the whale has been called the Japan finner; "finner" was a common term used to refer to rorquals. In Japanese, the whale was called ''iwashi kujira'', or sardine whale, a name originally applied to Bryde's whales by early Japanese whalers. Later, as modern whaling shifted to Sanriku — where both species occur — it was confused for the sei whale. Now the term only applies to the latter species.〔Omura, Hidero. "Review of the Occurrence of the Bryde's Whale in the Northwest Pacific". ''Rep. Int. Commn.'' (Special Issue 1), 1977, pp. 88–91.〕 It has also been referred to as the lesser fin whale because it somewhat resembles the fin whale.〔 〕 The American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews compared the sei whale to the cheetah, because it can swim at great speeds "for a few hundred yards", but it "soon tires if the chase is long" and "does not have the strength and staying power of its larger relatives".〔Andrews, Roy Chapman. 1916. ''Whale hunting with gun and camera; a naturalist's account of the modern shore-whaling industry, of whales and their habits, and of hunting experiences in various parts of the world''. New York: D. Appleton and Co., p. 128.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sei whale」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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