Minke whale records of minke whales inadvertently swimming into confined, shallow waters. There have been two recorded instances of minke whales ending high speed chases by hiding under a ship's hull, however, both instances were unsuccessful. Minke whales in the north Atlantic are observed to take a variety of food items. Before 1993, minke whales in the north Barents Sea fed predominantly on capelin until stocks collapsed and the whales switched to krill as their primary prey type. The minke whale population in the Norwegian Sea primarily feeds on adult herring while krill, capelin, and sand eels are also recorded prey types.
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