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
Bowhead whale welcomed the creation a nature sanctuary in the region Possibly, vagrants from this population occasionally reach into Asian nations such as off Japan or Korean Peninsula (although this record might or might not be of a right whale). First documented report of the species in Japanese waters was of a strayed infant () caught in Osaka Bay on 23 June 1969, and the first living sighting was of a juvenile around Shiretoko Peninsula (the southernmost of ice floe range in the northern hemisphere) on 21 to 23 June 2015. Fossils have been excavated on Hokkaido, but it is unclear whether