Common minke whale this mistake during Foyn's whaling operations in the Varanger Fjord between 1868 and 1885." It has formerly been known as the little piked whale, the lesser or least rorqual, and the sharp-headed finner. American whalemen in the 19th century simply thought of them as "young finbacks" or a "Finback's calf", apparently under the impression that they were juveniles of their larger relative, the fin whale. They were also called zwergwal (German: "dwarf whale") or vågehval (Norwegian: "bay whale"). In Japan they are called koiwashi-kujira ("little sardine whale") or minku-kujira ("minke whale"). In Greenland they are known by the Danish name
Dwarf sperm whale the dorsal fin on the body–nearer the middle in the dwarf sperm whale and nearer the back in the other. The dwarf sperm whale is a suction feeder that mainly eats squid, and does this in small pods of typically 1 to 4 members. It is preyed upon by the killer whale ("Orcinus orca") and large sharks such as the great white shark ("Carcharodon carcharius"). When startled, the whale can eject a cloud of red-brown fluid, similar to a squid. Most of what is known of the whale comes from beached individuals, as sightings in the ocean are rare. Many