This marine mammal, the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), is the second-largest animal on the planet, surpassed only by the blue whale. Individuals of this species can reach up to 27 metres in length and weigh as much as 80 tons. It is the largest specimen in the entire collection of the Museum.
The fin whale skeleton in the Museum belongs to an adult male measuring 20 metres in length. It is incomplete, with some bones missing.
Around 1871, this whale, already dead, washed ashore at Póvoa de Varzim. At the time, the carcass was buried and eventually decomposed, leaving only the skeleton. The vertebrae were then numbered, and with the help of several ox carts, the skeleton was transported to the railway station and brought by train to Coimbra, arriving in November of that year. It was likely purchased by the director of the Zoology Museum, Joaquim Augusto Simões de Carvalho, and was only assembled 20 years later in the hall where it still stands today, at the Colégio de Jesus.