Common minke whale from June to October. Most were caught from April to June, with a peak in the Yellow Sea in April and in the Sea of Japan in June. They were also caught in the northern Yellow Sea and off the east coast of North Korea (before 1936), where peak catches were reached from May to June and from April to June, respectively. About 16,000 were caught between 1940 and 1986, when hunting of minke whales ceased. A small number of minke whales were caught by the Soviets in the western North Pacific, with 21 being taken by pelagic fleets between
Antarctic minke whale dark gray dorsally and clean white (occasionally light gray to gray) ventrally with a thin, dusky margin. Some small, dark gray "speckling" may be present on the body. Antarctic minkes lack the bright white, transverse "flipper band" of the common minke and the white "shoulder blaze" and bright white "flipper patch" (occupying the proximal two-thirds of the flipper) of the dwarf minke. Instead, their narrow, pointed flippers, about one-sixth to one-eighth of the total body length, are normally either a plain light gray with an almost white leading edge and a darker gray trailing edge or two-toned, with a thin