Common minke whale to 20 growth layers in their tympanic bullae, which may correspond to about 15 to 20 years of age. Both sexes can live to about 50 years of age – the oldest in a study of Icelandic minke whales were 42 years for females and 47 years for males, respectively. Common minke whales have been described as ichthyophagous, but their diet also includes pelagic crustaceans and cephalopods and varies by region, season, and year. In the North Atlantic, they primarily eat small schooling fish, demersal fish, and krill. A 2007 study showed that off Spitsbergen they fed almost exclusively on
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