A dead whale was found by local fishermen on the coast of Zhangzi Island, Changhai County, Dalian, Liaoning on April 16, 2019. According to the following information (1) discovery location, (2) prominent ridges on head, 256 pairs of white baleen in the mouth and the white transverse band on the fin limb, (3) characteristics of Cytochrome b (Cyt b) gene sequence, the whale was identified as the North Pacific minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata acutorostrata). It was found that the whale was in pregnancy. The results showed that the body length of minke whale was 640.0 cm and the body weight was 3350.0 kg. The fetus was a 7-8 months old male, with its body length 123.0 cm and body weight 26.3 kg. The body length of dead minke whale was less than the minimum value of the previous recorded pregnant minke whale. Our study is to record the morphological characteristics of the dead minke whale samples and enrich the basic biological data of large cetaceans in China.

Minke whale, Pregnant, Species identification, External morphology