Bryde's whale

noun

Bry·​de's whale ˈbrü-dəz- 

: a slender baleen whale (Balaenoptera edeni synonym B. brydei) of warm seas of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans that is dark gray above and white below and has three parallel ridges that run from the snout to the blowholes

Bryde's whales—leviathans more than 40 feet long—surface, then roll languidly back underwater, flashing their white bellies, circling back over and over.

—Melissa Gaskill, Nature Conservancy, Summer 2003

Note: The Bryde's whale is sometimes considered to comprise two separate species (B. edeni and B. brydei) with pygmy forms placed in a third species (B. omurai).

Word History

Etymology

after Johan Bryde †1925 Norwegian shipowner and whaler

First Known Use

1913, in the meaning defined above

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