Page 410 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

408 ANIMAL LIFE

ORDER CETACEA with a total population of about 500
individuals. A deep bluish black, apart
Northern from white markings on its belly, it has
a deeply arched mouth, with a lower
Right Whale jaw shaped like a gigantic scoop. Its
head its covered with distinctive areas
of hard pale skin, known as callosities,
Eubalaena glacialis
LENGTH 43–56 ft which scientists use to identify
(13–17 m)
individuals. Like all baleen whales, it
WEIGHT 33–88 tons feeds by filtering food from seawater,
(30–80 metric tons)
using brushlike strips of baleen that
HABITAT Temperate and hang from its upper jaw. Northern
subpolar waters
right whales feed at high latitudes, but
DISTRIBUTION Northwestern Atlantic, vestigial they migrate to warmer waters to
populations in northeastern Atlantic and Pacific
breed. An almost identical species, the
southern right whale, is found in
The northern right whale was one the Southern Hemisphere. Unlike its
of the first whales to be hunted northern counterpart, its numbers are
commercially and is now one of the gradually increasing and are currently
most critically endangered species, estimated to be about 5,000.
HUMAN IMPACT
WHALING
Commercial whaling has exploited expanded operations to Canada in
many species. The northern right the 1500s. The sperm whale was
whale was one of the first to be the quarry of American whalers in
seriously affected. the Pacific from the 1780s. Modern
This whale was whaling, targeting species such as
decimated by the blue whale, expanded rapidly in
Basque whalers the 20th century, using factory
who then ships and explosive harpoons.

WHALING STATION
Hauled ashore in the
Southern Ocean, a whale
is flensed, or stripped of
its blubber and flesh.

ORDER CETACEA ORDER CETACEA to 16 in (40 cm) long. Its entire body is ORDER CETACEA
often heavily encrusted with barnacles
Bowhead Whale Gray Whale and whale lice. Although gray whales Humpback Whale
stay close to the coast, they carry out
record-breaking migrations. On the
Balaena mysticetus Eschrichtius robustus Megaptera novaeangliae
LENGTH 45–60 ft LENGTH 40–50 ft west coast of North America, large LENGTH 40–50 ft
(14–18 m) (12–15 m) numbers migrate between the Bering (12–15 m)
WEIGHT 55–65 tons WEIGHT 17–39 tons Sea and Baja California in Mexico, WEIGHT 27–33 tons
(50–60 metric tons) (15–35 metric tons) a round trip of up to 12,400 miles (25–30 metric tons)
HABITAT Polar and HABITAT Temperate and (20,000 km). Unfortunately, their HABITAT Open oceans,
subpolar waters subpolar coastal waters coast-hugging habits make them easy from subpolar to tropical
DISTRIBUTION Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea, adjoining DISTRIBUTION North Pacific, Bering Sea, prey for whalers. By the mid-1900s, DISTRIBUTION Worldwide, except extreme north
regions of north Atlantic and north Pacific Arctic Ocean they had been almost wiped out, but and south
legal protection has allowed their
Named after its arching lower jaw, the Unlike other baleen whales, the gray numbers to recover. The humpback’s lively behavior
bowhead has the longest baleen plates whale feeds on the sea floor, filtering makes it a favorite with whale-
of any whale at up to 15 ft (4.5 m). animals out of the sediment. Its body watchers. This whale has a blue-black
Grayish black with a paler chin, it has is gray with white mottling, body, deeply notched tail fins
a huge head in proportion to its body and it has a narrowish (flukes) and extremely long,
and remarkably thick blubber, which head, with yellowish winglike flippers. Its flukes
insulates it in near-freezing water. baleen plates up and flippers are often splashed
Bowheads can break upward through with white markings—the pattern,
ice over 12 in (30 cm) thick, allowing unique as a fingerprint, is used to
them to maintain open water holes identify individuals. Unlike most
throughout the Arctic winter. baleen whales, humpbacks often trap
their prey by lunging upward from
below. To concentrate shoals of fish or
krill, they often spiral around them
while exhaling air. This “bubble-
netting” may be carried out by several
OCEAN LIFE in cold, food-rich waters, moving
individuals working as a team.
Humpbacks spend the summer
to lower latitudes to give birth
in winter. They often feed near
coasts. Although protected,
current humpback populations
are about a fifth of those of
pre-whaling days.