How Do Blue Whales Hold Their Breath So Long? (Here’s How)

Blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) are the largest animals on Earth. They live in the ocean but are mammals so they breathe air like us. They often dive down 100 meters – can up to 500 meters (over 1,500 feet) to find food in the deep ocean. How do blue whales stay under for so long and dive so deep?

Let’s explore their incredible adaptations that allow such amazing breath-holding abilities.

How Long Can A Blue Whale Hold Its Breath?

Blue whales can hold their breath for durations as long as 90 minutes. They are able to do this by utilizing the vast oxygen stores available due to their gigantic body size. Also, due to their specialized respiration anatomy and physiology. However, most dives are typically about 30 minutes.

Here are some reasons that help them hold their breath for so long:

The Blue Whale’s Lung

The blue whale possesses the largest lungs of any animal on Earth. It holds the Guinness World Record for having the largest lungs.

Blue whale lungs are structured differently than humans to support their massive size. Their lungs are more rigid and take up a smaller proportion of their thoracic cavity at only 3% compared to around 7% in humans. This leaves more room for the heart and other organs.

Despite being a smaller percentage of body cavity size, the actual lungs are enormous. The blue whale’s two lungs have a combined total capacity of approximately 5,000 liters, which is over 800 gallons! To put this in perspective, the average adult human’s lung capacity is only around 6 liters. With giant lungs, blue whales can transfer 90 percent of the air into their bloodstream.

This massive lung capacity allows blue whales to take in an immense volume of oxygen in a single breath before diving. This gives the whale a long reserve of oxygen to use while underwater. 

Additionally, their chest and rib cage are highly flexible to maximize lung volume during inhalation. The oxygen is then stored in their blood and muscles using specialized hemoglobin.

One of the other adaptations is the blue whale’s lungs are very elastic.  This means that they can stretch and expand to hold a large volume of air. So, this helps to prevent the lungs from overinflating and rupturing at high pressure.

During dives, they can reuse the oxygen in their lungs and blood. This is countercurrent gas exchange. This special ability, along with the huge oxygen supply in their lungs and blood, lets blue whales dive for more than an hour without coming up for air.

Overall, the blue whale’s lungs are a marvel of evolution. They are perfectly adapted to the whale’s deep-diving lifestyle and allow the whale to hold its breath for long periods of time.

Other Adaptations that Help Blue Whales Hold Their Breath

Yes, blue whales have several other physiological adaptations that help them hold their breath for so long:

Reduced blood flow to non-essential organs: When a blue whale dives, it slows down blood flow to organs it doesn’t need. This includes muscles and the digestive system. This helps to conserve oxygen for the whale’s brain and other vital organs.

Bradycardia: The heart rate of a blue whale is about 33 beats per minute. Recent studies have shown that blue whales exhibit a dive response with heart rates down to 2 bpm. This helps it save oxygen and stay underwater longer.

Metabolic rate slowdown: Blue whales are able to significantly lower their metabolic rate by up to 75% while diving. This conserves oxygen stores.

Myoglobin stores: Myoglobin is a protein that helps muscles store extra oxygen, in addition to what hemoglobin does. This enhances oxygen reserves.

Countercurrent exchange: Their tails and fins have special blood vessels that recycle oxygenated blood. This helps extract more oxygen from body tissues.

In addition, blue whales have also developed a number of behavioral adaptations that help them hold their breath, such as:

Surfacing at regular intervals: Blue whales typically surface every 30 minutes to breathe. This allows them to replenish their oxygen supply and avoid running out of air.

Diving to different depths: Blue whales can dive to different depths depending on their needs. For example, they may dive deeper when searching for food and shallower when resting. This helps them conserve oxygen.

Breathing Mechanism of Blue Whales

Blue whales breathe air through a single pair of blowholes, which is located on the top of their head. When a blue whale surfaces to breathe, it closes its blowhole with a muscular flap. It then opens its blowhole and exhales forcefully, releasing a column of air and water vapor that can be seen up to 100 feet (30 meters) in the air.

After exhaling, the blue whale inhales fresh air. It does this by opening its blowhole and contracting the muscles in its chest. This creates a vacuum that draws air into the lungs.

The whale rolls back into the water, and muscles around the blowholes automatically close the valves to seal in the air supply for the next dive.

So in summary, blue whales have a special way of breathing. They use their blowholes and strong muscles to quickly take in a lot of air. Then, they can stay underwater for a long time.

How Do Blue Whales Breathe While Sleeping?

Blue whales can sleep with one half of their brain at a time. They still perform essential functions like breathing and surfacing to breathe. Here are some more details on how blue whales breathe while sleeping:

Unihemispheric sleep: Blue whales experience a sleep state called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep. During this state, only one half of their brain sleeps at a time. This allows them to still control breathing and movement.

Rising to breathe: Even while half-asleep, whales are able to rise to the surface on a regular schedule. For example, every 10-15 minutes, to breathe through their blowholes.

Automatic breathing: When they are awake, one half of our brain controls their breathing. It makes their respiratory muscles move and helps them inhale and exhale.

Slow swimming: Some whales may drift or slowly swim near the surface with minimal effort while sleeping. This ensures they don’t sink and can easily rise up to breathe.

Social support: Whales may also sleep next to an awake companion who can nudge them if they start sinking or fail to surface to breathe on schedule.

Gradual brain switching: The two brain hemispheres gradually switch off so the whale experiences no disruption in breathing or other functions as it transitions between awake and asleep states.

So, Blue whales can rest one brain half at a time by entering a specialized sleep state. They also have automatic breathing reflexes. This allows them to maintain respiration and surfacing behaviors needed to survive while sleeping in the sea.

How Do Blue Whale Breath Holds Compare to Other Whales?

To fully appreciate the blue whale’s marathon breath-holding chops, it helps to compare them against other diving whales:

• Sperm whales are the next deepest divers, capable of dives of around 45 minutes to depths of 2,000 feet while hunting giant squid. Their muscle myoglobin stores up to 25% of their total oxygen supply.
• Humpback whales typically dive for around 4-7 minutes to feed on small fish and krill, although 20-minute dives have been recorded. Their flexible ribcage allows their lungs to collapse under pressure.
• Gray whales dive for 4-6 minutes at a time to feed off the seafloor, with a recorded maximum of 15 minutes. Their streamlined body shape reduces drag while feeding at depth.
• Beluga whales generally dive for just 3-4 minutes when hunting fish (over 20 minutes in some cases). To prepare for dives, they hyperventilate to expel carbon dioxide and saturate their blood with oxygen.

While other whales have adaptations that suit their particular diving niche, none come close to matching the breath-holding champion, the blue whale. Its enormous oxygen storage and energy conservation outclass all other whales.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Often Does a Blue Whale Come Up for Air?

Blue whales surface about every 10-20 minutes when diving deeply to feed. However, when lunge feeding near the surface they breathe more often, every 5 minutes or so. After long 30+ minute dives blue whales typically rest at the surface for an extended period before their next deep dive cycle.

Why Do Whales Breathe Air but Live in Water?

Whales evolved from land mammals so they retain lungs to breathe air. Air has much more usable oxygen than water, allowing whales to sustain their high metabolism. Whales come to the surface to breathe air. However, they spend most of their time in water. This supports their huge body size and allows them to swim efficiently using their tail and flippers.