The minke whale is the smallest baleen whale with 50-70 throat grooves. It is a rorqual whale (baleen whale with throat grooves). They are the most abundant baleen whale. Minke whales have a characteristic white band on each flipper, contrasting with its very dark gray top color. They have 2 blowholes, like all baleen whales.

Minke whales grow to be about 25-30 feet (7.8-9 m) long, weighing about 6-7.5 tons (5.4-6.8 tonnes).. Females are about 2 feet (0.6 m) longer than males, as with all baleen whales. The largest minke whale was about 35 feet (10.5 m) long weighing 9.5 tons (8.6 tonnes).. Minke whales have a snout that is distinctively triangular, narrow, and pointed (hence its nicknames "sharp-headed finner" and "little piked whale").

The minke whale's skin is very dark gray above and lighter below, sometimes with pale trapezoidal stripes behind the flippers on the top. Minke whales have a characteristic white band on each flipper (this is absent on the southern minke whales).

Minke whales are stocky, having a layer of blubber several inches thick. They have 50-70 throat grooves, running from the chin to the mid-section. The minke whale has two long flippers (up to 1/8 of the body size), a small dorsal fin, and a series of small ridges along the its back near the flukes (tail)