A fin whale surfacing in the north Barents sea, south of Svalbard, near the Spitsbergen bank. In the picture you can see two blow holes which are characteristic of balleen whales. The whale blows out an exhalation of air. With fin whales this can be up to 1,000 litres. Fin whales are the second largest whale and the second largest animal. Females can grow to 24 metres. This whale is most probably feeding on small schooling fish like capelin, or feeding on plankton. These whales are gulpers, they open their mouths and take everything out of the water pressing the water back out through their balleens like a sieve.