Balaena mysticetus Linnaeus 1758

• Main Authors: Russell A. Mittermeier, Don E. Wilson
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Lynx Edicions 2014
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Chordata; Mammalia; Cetacea; Balaenidae; Balaena; Balaena mysticetus; baleen whale; baleine boréale; bowhead whale; Greenland; Greenland Sea; Groenlandia; ice pack; Svalbard; ballena de groenlandia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6595837; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A187BA202DFF89FA28CFFFF6882730

4. Bowhead Whale Balaena mysticetus French: Baleine boréale / German: Gronland-Wal / Spanish: Ballena de Groenlandia Other common names: Arctic Right Whale, Bowhead, Bunch-back Whale, Great Polar Whale, Greenland Right Whale, Greenland Whale, Steeple-top Taxonomy. Balaena mysticetus Linnaeus, 1758, “Habitat in Oceano Greenlandico” (= Greenland Sea). This species is monotypic. Distribution. Circumpolar in the N Atlantic Ocean (NE Canada-W Greenland and E Greenland, Svalbard, Barents and Kara seas) and N Pacific Ocean (Bering—Chuckchi-Beaufort seas and Sea of Okhotsk). Descriptive notes. Total length maximum 1800 cm (males) and up to 2000 cm (females); weight can exceed 100,000 kg. Bowhead Whales are massive and frequently described as rotund. Like other mysticetes, Bowhead Whales are sexually dimorphic, with females slightly larger than males. Head is enormous and may compose more that one-third of the total body length. Bowhead Whales have a noticeable postcranial indentation posterior to blowhole at the neck area. Blowhole is pronounced, situated on a prominence composed of dense fibrous connective tissue and muscle. Blowhole openings are widely separated from one another and angle slightly to the sides. Spoutis a V-shaped spray that can be as much as 5 m high. Rostrum is extremely arched, and mouth is strongly bowed. There are 230-360 baleen plates suspended from each side of the upper jaw. Baleen is up to 500 cm in length, the longest of any baleen whale. Plates are dark gray or brown to black and are fringed with long, fine bristles. Eyes are located above gape of mouth. There is no dorsal fin on the broad, smooth back. Flippers are large, and flukes are wide, reaching up to 600 cm across. Bowhead Whales are adapted to ice pack habitat and have very thick blubber (maximum c.38—42 cm) and skin layers. Blubber acts as a thermal insulator in cold Arctic temperatures, and skin is thought to provide protection against ridged pack ice and rough seafloor. External markings from contact with ice and seafloor are ...