The sperm whale registers at 230 dB while the blue whale is at 188 dB. “For us to hear blue whale calls, they must be made at an intensity of 70 dB or more,” BBC writer Ella Davies reports.

The Antarctic blue whale can weigh up to 400,000 pounds and stretches to 98 feet in length. The underwater call of the sperm whale, the earth’s loudest, registers at 230 decibels.