Delphinapterus leucas Pallas 1776
2. Beluga Delphinapterus leucas French: Béluga / German: \WeilRwal / Spanish: Beluga Other common names: Beluga Whale, Sea Canary, White Whale Taxonomy. Delphinus leucas Pallas, 1776, “die im Obischen Meerbusen” (= mouth of Ob River), North-eastern Siberia, Russia. This species is monotypic. Distrib...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Other/Unknown Material |
| Language: | unknown |
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Lynx Edicions
2014
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| Online Access: | https://zenodo.org/record/6602716 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6602716 |
| Summary: | 2. Beluga Delphinapterus leucas French: Béluga / German: \WeilRwal / Spanish: Beluga Other common names: Beluga Whale, Sea Canary, White Whale Taxonomy. Delphinus leucas Pallas, 1776, “die im Obischen Meerbusen” (= mouth of Ob River), North-eastern Siberia, Russia. This species is monotypic. Distribution. Arctic and subarctic waters S to ¢.50° N, Greenlandic and E European populations have their S distributional limits farther to the N at c.64° N. Young Belugas occasionally stray S of their normal distribution, and they have been seen near Long Island, New York, USA, and in the Seine River, France. Descriptive notes. Total length 300-450 cm; weight 500-1600 kg. Male Belugas are heavier and larger than females. Size varies geographically, with larger individuals in Arctic regions than in subarctic regions. Belugas are rotund, with bulging midsections when fat. They have visible neck regions, which in healthy adults and particularly males give the appearance of shoulders. Unlike most other whales, cervical vertebrae of Belugas are not fused, and they can move their head quite well, probably an adaptation to life in shallow waters and under jumbled sea ice. They have small blunt heads with short beaks, and their mouths curve upward toward the eyes. Belugas have 8-11 blunt, uniform-looking teeth on both sides of upper and lower jaws, up to 40 in total. Their rostrums have globe-like melons, lumps offatty tissue that are used as acoustic lens to focus echolocation signals. Blowhole opens behind the melon just above the eyes. Dorsal ridge runs along mid-back, starting well behind head and flattening before tailstock. Belugas are born pink, white, or gray and become slate-gray in their first month. They progressively whiten over the entire body with age. Adult Belugas are entirely white, except for edges of fins, tail flukes, and dorsal ridges, which retain some dark pigment. In spring and early summer, Belugas may appear yellow when they are shedding epidermal skin during annual molt. This is most apparent in the ... |
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