Talk:Rorqual

Untitled
Interesting phylogenetic tree.... Although the Humpback is labelled as the Sperm Whale, this tree indicates that perhaps there there's a few choices that taxonomists will have to make. Either lump the Humpback Whale into this genus, lump the Humpback and split off the Minke whales, or split the Rorquals into 3 genera. (Or one or two genera with 3 subgenera?) What would the names be for those three genera? Would the Minkes form one subfamily and the remaining form another subfamily? Given that Blue Whales and Fin Whales can and do interbreed, it's likely that the Humpbacks will be lumped to make the Blue + Fin tree represent one genus or subgenus. - UtherSRG 17:15, May 14, 2005 (UTC)


 * Sorry about the Humpy/Sperm cock-up, fixed now and also added muddied the waters still further by noting that the Gray is close to the Blue too (there is still some ambiguity exactly where). I haven't a clue if the taxonomists will change their ways in the future but the data building this tree was published by Aranason between 1990 and 1995 and the last major systematics review was published in 1998, so presumably this data was known then. Pcb21| Pete 17:52, 14 May 2005 (UTC)

No prob... I know it's not an easy task we've set for ourselves. And Feh on the taxonomists for not taking this informtion into account. Well, Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, is going to be published then, we'll have to see what they say. I was able to get my hands on a copy of the Primate section ahead of time and used that to update the Primate articles here andon Wikispecies. I'll see if I can track down the Cetaceans, too. - UtherSRG 02:09, May 16, 2005 (UTC)

I'm interested in creating some tree images like yours for some of the primate articles. What did you use to create this one? - UtherSRG 14:11, May 24, 2005 (UTC)

Disambiguation page needed
There should be a disambiguation page to account for the Rorqual whale and the two British submarines wih this name (HMS Rorqual (N74) and HMS Rorqual (S02).


 * Done. See HMS Rorqual. The earlier boat article needs to be created at HMS Rorqual (N74). Welsh 20:44, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Status of Balaenoptera
Since Balaena physalus was officially made the type species of Balaenoptera by Lacépède in 1804, the other species of Balaenoptera should be assigned to their own genera, according to genetic research.

Evolution?
Minke whale always seemed suspiciously alike Caperea but I though that their common traits where most likely convergent especially in comparison to other fin whales' similarities. I expected that the dorsal fin would be an evolution of the gray's and humpback's whales humps but now it seems that it the opposite took place. There where also some similarities between Blue whales' and Megapterus' heads (U-shapes instead of V-shaped of the other Balaenoptera species) as well as less well-shaped dorsal fin in the Blue whale (somehow resembling a single fine hump); these made me believe that the blue whale was less derived than the other more hydrodynamic Balaenoptera species (including the Minke whale) maybe even justifing to be put in its own subgenus (like Sibbaldius). But I actually don't have a clue because I do not have any related diploma. Please keep this page informed for any new clarifications on the matter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.118.191.48 (talk) 19:57, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Prime reason (above) why ip addresses shouldn't be allowed to edit wikipedia. And, yes. You don't have a clue. Subgenus? Based on a dorsal fin?? SaberToothedWhale (talk) 21:03, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

Etymology
The etymological claims in the article seems very dubious to me, for several reasons. First: there is no letter "ö" in the norwegian language, that letter exists i german and swedish, and is at least in swedish used similar to the letter "ø" in norwegian. Second: while the part "kval" is a dialect version of "hval" (whale), and "røyr" is a dialect version of "rør", "rør" does not mean "furrow" but "pipe". Third (and least important): I am a norwegian with a reasonably good vocabulary, and I have never heard of the word "röyrkval". PerDaniel (talk) 04:12, 17 May 2009 (UTC)


 * While "kval" and "røyr" certainly not are dialectal versions; I cannot find the word "røyrkval" in the dictionary. Merriam-Webster does though name "rørhval" as the etymology. --Harald Khan  Ճ  15:29, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
 * So, rorqual means "whale whale". Rorqual is deried from the Norwegian rorhval? Which means "whale whale"? And rorhval means "rorqual-whale", which translates to "whale whale whale". Ptsh, ok. OM2003 (talk) 20:05, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

The Danish name for rorqual is rørhval (source the national dictionary: https://ordnet.dk/ods/ordbog?query=r%C3%B8rhval), same as Norwegian røyrkval and German Rohrwal, all meaning "pipe-whale" and likely referring to the furrows on the throat and a most distinctive feature separating the rorquals from the right whales. I suggest changing the paragraph to: Rorquals take their name from French rorqual, which derives from the Norwegian word røyrkval (also Danish rørhval and German Rohrwal), meaning "pipe-whale" and likely referring to the pipe-like throat-furrows. --JakobT (talk) 09:45, 29 December 2018 (UTC)