Fin whale
Balaenoptera physalus
The second-largest whale species on Earth at 75 to 85 feet, fin whales are fast swimmers. Look for an asymmetric jaw: the right lower lip is white while the left is dark, visible when they surface near Channel Islands whale-watching grounds.
Scale
About 2× as long as a school bus, nose to tail.
A fin whale runs about 80 ft. Lined up against a school bus everyone already has a mental ruler for, each one 39.3 ft per the manufacturer's own spec sheet.
School bus: 39.3 ft (472 in), Blue Bird Vision 72-passenger conventional bus, manufacturer spec sheet.
Drawn to the same scale. 80 ÷ 39.3 ≈ 2.
Why that rarity label
Fin whale abundance off California, Oregon, and Washington has climbed for decades — doubling in California waters alone between 1991 and 1993, and averaging 7.5% annual growth from 1991 to 2014. NOAA's current best estimate is 11,065 whales, up from 9,029 just a few years earlier, with signs of recovery tracing back to 1979. The global species followed the same arc: IUCN moved fin whales worldwide from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2018, after the population roughly doubled since the 1970s.NOAA Fin Whale CA/OR/WA Stock SAR, rev. 5/14/2024 source →
The evidence, drawn
1744
NOAA's Bayesian trend model: fin whale abundance off California, Oregon, and Washington grew from about 1,744 in 1991 to 9,029 by 2014 — 7.5% annual growth, roughly a fivefold increase. NOAA's current best estimate, from a newer model using 2018 survey data, is higher still: 11,065.