Data from a Study of the White Whale Distribution in the Northern Seas of the USSR (Materialy k Izucheniyu Raspredeleniya Belukhi v Severnykh Moryakh SSSR)

• Main Authors: Kleinenberg,S. E., Belkovich,V. M., Yablokov,A. V.
• Other Authors: NAVAL OCEANOGRAPHIC OFFICE WASHINGTON D C
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1973
• Subjects: Biological Oceanography; *CETACEA; ARCTIC REGIONS; DISTRIBUTION; FOOD; COASTAL REGIONS; SEA ICE; USSR; TRANSLATIONS; ANIMAL MIGRATIONS; DELPHINAPTERUS LEUCAS; Arctic; Beluga; Beluga*; Chukchi; Delphinapterus leucas; Kara-Laptev; laptev; Sea ice; White whale
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0768180; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0768180

The report presents a condensed bibliographical review of the distribution, migration, and habits of white whales (beluga) in the Arctic seas of the USSR. Data from the literature are amplified and verified by questionnaires, interrogations, and the authors' own observations. Reports and observations of white whale sightings are presented seasonally for each sea (White, Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi). The seasonal movements of whitel whales are summarized and analyzed. It is concluded that belugas are circumpolar in distribution; they frequent both coastal waters and the open sea influenced by ice conditions and food supply, and they winter both in open water and in leads (polynyas) among the ice. Trans. of Polyarnyi Nauchno-Issledovatelskii Institut Morskogo Rybnogo Khozyaistva i Okeanofrafii. Trudy (USSR) v12 p127-145 1960, by V. Astvazaturov.