Minke whale , or
lesser rorqual, is a name given to two species of
marine mammal belonging to a
clade within the suborder of
baleen whales. The minke whale was given its official designation by
Lacepède in 1804, who described a juvenile specimen of
Balænoptera acuto-rostrata. The name is a partial translation of
Norwegian minkehval, possibly after a
Norwegian whaler named Meincke, who mistook a northern minke whale for a
blue whale.