---
title: Omura's Whale (Balaenoptera omurai)
scientific_name: Balaenoptera omurai
common_name: Omura's Whale
taxon: Whales
conservation_status: DD - Data Deficient
published: 2024-11-25T18:52:49.469Z
updated: 2026-08-14T11:57:50.697Z
tags: Omura's Whale, Balaenoptera omurai, Whales, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/mammals/whales/omuras-whale
---

# Omura's Whale (*Balaenoptera omurai*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Whales (*Balaenopteridae*)
- **Size:** up to 11.5 m
- **Depth:** 0-200 m
- **Diet:** Filter feeder
- **Activity:** Cathemeral
- **Rarity:** Very Rare
- **Habitat:** Warm shallow shelf water, unusually close inshore for a rorqual
- **Reproduction:** Live-bearer, Gonochoric
- **CITES:** Appendix I
- **Conservation status:** DD - Data Deficient

## How to recognise it

- small slender rorqual with a strongly curved fin set far back
- lower jaw white on the right side and dark on the left, an asymmetry visible when it rolls
- single ridge along the top of the head
- length up to 11.5 m

A small slender rorqual to 11.5 m (38 ft) with a strongly hooked fin set far back on the body, easily written off as a young Bryde's whale unless the head is seen. The head settles it: the lower jaw is white on the right side and dark on the left, an asymmetry it shares only with the fin whale.

It is the newest large animal in the book. Described in 2003 from specimens that had been sitting misidentified in collections, it was not photographed alive and confirmed in the field until 2015, off Madagascar. Almost everything known about its behavior comes from the decade since.

Unlike most rorquals it stays in warm water year-round and feeds close inshore in the shallows, lunging through patches of small fish and krill rather than making long migrations to cold seas. That habit is why the few records from this region exist at all.

How many there are is unknown. It has never been assessed with a population estimate, and any confirmed sighting - with photographs of the head - is a genuine contribution to what is known about the species.

## Also known as

- **English:** Bryde's whale, Bryde's-like whale, Omura's whale
- **Arabic:** حوت أومورا
- **Hebrew:** לווייתן אומורה
- **French:** Rorqual d'Omura, Rorqual d’Omura
- **Italian:** Balenottera di Omura
- **German:** Omura-Wal, Omurawal
- **Spanish:** Rorcual de Omura
- **Greek:** Νανοπτεροφάλαινα
- **Portuguese:** Baleia-de-omura
- **Dutch:** Omura's vinvis
- **Polish:** Płetwal skryty
- **Czech:** plejtvák Omurův
- **Japanese:** 角島 鯨 (Tsunoshima kujira), ツノシマクジラ
- **Chinese:** 大村鯨, 大村鲸, 角島鯨
- **KO:** 오무라고래
- **NO:** Omuras Dvergbrydehval, Omurahval
- **TH:** วาฬโอมูระ

## Range

Central Indo-Pacific

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/mammals/whales/omuras-whale)*
*Updated: August 14, 2026*