Also, the largest whale traditionally belongs to the legendary Paikea.

Bus stops in Mexico City carry posters showing a regal fin rising above the lagoon's serene waters and asking riders if they want the whales to belong to "a corporation" or to humanity.

Among others, seals and whales belong to the aquatic mammals.

Narwhals and white whales belong to the Monodontidae group of odontocetes, which means that the narwhal's head is very flat and its neck is very flexible.

But none of that balances out the bigger issue, which is that whales don't belong in captivity, and certainly not in amusement parks.

"People are beginning to realize that whales don't belong to any one nation, they belong to everyone," said Shigeki Komori, director of whale surveys at the Japan World Wildlife Fund.

The whales belong to a group called the rorqual whales, or balaenoptera, which includes the blue whale, fin whale, sei and minke whales.

Whether this whale belonged to the pod in advance, seemed questionable; for it is not customary for such venerable leviathans to be at all social.

"But the concern is that something is wrong with the mother that caused her to appear where whales do not belong."

However, there was a considerable debate as to whether the whale belonged in the genus Mesoplodon or not.