North Atlantic Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis) inhabit the Atlantic Ocean, especially between 20^o and 60^o N latitude. Most individuals in the western North Atlantic population range from wintering and calving areas in coastal waters off the southeastern United States to summer feeding and nursery grounds in New England waters and north to the Bay of Fundy and Scotian Shelf. In 1991, five "high use" areas were identified by the National Marine Fisheries Service: (1) coastal Florida and Georgia, (2) Great South Channel, (3) Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay, (4) Bay of Fundy, and (5) Scotian Shelf (NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources Website, accessed 10 December 2009, http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/cetaceans/rightwhale_northatlantic.htm).

The eastern North Atlantic population may originally have migrated along the coast from northern Europe to the northwest coast of Africa. Historical records suggest these animals were heavily exploited by whalers from the Bay of Biscay (off southern Europe) and Cintra Bay (off the northwestern coast of Africa), as well as off coastal Iceland and the British Isles. During the early to mid 1900s, right whales were intensely harvested in the Shetlands, Hebrides, and Ireland. Recent surveys suggest right whales no longer frequent Cintra Bay or northern European waters. Due to a lack of sightings, current distribution and migration patterns of the eastern North Atlantic right whale population are unknown (NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources Website, accessed 10 December 2009, http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/cetaceans/rightwhale_northatlantic.htm).

What was long treated as a single right whale species is now recognized as three distinct species by both scientists and federal regulatory agencies (Rosenbaum et al. 2000; Gaines et al. 2005; http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/cetaceans/). The North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica), which inhabits the Pacific Ocean, especially between 20^o and 60^o N latitude, is now widely recognized as a species distinct from the North Atlantic right whale. Similarly, the Southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) is now recognized as a distinct species occurring in the southern hemisphere between around 20^o and 60^o S latitude.

Northern right whales were once found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. These whales inhabit the temperate and subpolar waters of the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans. In the North Pacific they are found from about 25 to 60 degrees north and in the North Atlantic from about 30 to 75 degrees north. Northwest Atlantic populations occur from Iceland to the Gulf of Mexico, with largest concentrations occurring between Nova Scotia, Canada, and Florida. Winter calving grounds occur off the coasts of Florida and Georgia.

Right whales move from subpolar regions with the onset of winter to lower latitudes, staying near land masses. Some good areas to see them are from Cape Cod north to the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia and Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick.

Northern Pacific populations are isolated from Northern Atlantic populations and are genetically distinct. These populations are sometimes referred to as Eubalaena japonica, Northern Pacific right whales, and occur from the southeastern Bering Sea to the Okhotsk Sea off western Russia. Northern Pacific populations may be more closely related to southern right whales, Eubalaena australis, than to Northern Atlantic populations of northern right whales (Northern Atlantic right whales).

Biogeographic Regions: arctic ocean (Native ); atlantic ocean (Native ); pacific ocean (Native )

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: (20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles)) Remnant populations occur in the North Atlantic (mainly Florida and Gulf of Mexico to Labrador). Very rare in the eastern North Atlantic (fewer than 10 reliable sightings within the past 50 years, but including a female and calf were observed off Portugal in 1995 (Martin and Walker 1997). North Atlantic high-use areas include coastal Florida and Georgia (winter calving); Great South Channel east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts (spring feeding); Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay (winter-spring feeding); Bay of Fundy (summer and fall feeding and nursery area); and Browns and Baccaro banks south of Nova Scotia (Roseway Basin, summer and fall feeding) (Right Whale Recovery Team 1990, Malik et al. 1999). See Right Whale Recovery Team (1990) and IUCN (1991) for further details. The Bay of Fundy is the important nursery area, but at least one other nursery area (as yet unidentified) must exist (Schaeff et al. 1993, Malik et al. 1999).

Eubalaena glacialis is typically uniformly dark in color except for scars, belly patches, parasites and head excrescences or callosities, most of which are light. Callosities are prominent on the rostrum, near blowholes, near eyes, and on the chin and lower lip. These large crusty growths often harbor crustaceans called whale lice, and may therefore appear white, orange, yellow, or pink. Hair can be found on the tips of the chin and upper jaw and is also associated with the callosities. Right whales have no dorsal fin, nor do they have the grooved throat. The flippers are very broad and short.

Compared to other mysticetes, right whales are very large in girth relative to their length giving them a rotund appearance. The jaws are greatly arched in order to fit the exceptionally long baleen. Baleen can reach a maximum length of 5 m with an average of 300 plates on either side. The head is enormous, close to one-third the body length. There is sexual dimorphism; females are larger than males. Young are 4.5 to 6m long at birth. Adults can be up to 17m long and weigh up to 100 tons.

The blowholes are well partitioned on the exterior surface, resulting in a vertical V-shaped blow that may be up to 5m high. The largest amount of blubber found in whales is that of right whales. The average thickness is 20 inches and can be as thick as 28 inches. It comprises 36-45% of the total body weight. All seven cervical vertebrae are fused into one osseous unit. They are extremely slow swimmers, swimming at an average of 2 knots and rarely exceeding 5 knots.

(Cummings 1985, Slijper 1979).

Range mass: 55000 to 95000 kg.

Range length: 17 (high) m.

Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry

Sexual Dimorphism: female larger

Length: 1400 cm

Weight: 2.3E7 grams

Right whales differ from other large whales in having callosities on the head; also, the absence of a dorsal fin distinguishes right whales from many other large whales. Lacks the knuckled ridge along the spine and the more elongate body and flippers of the gray whale. There are no known external morphological differences between E. GLACIALIS and E. AUSTRALIS, though it has been suggested that callosities along the upper surface of the lower lips are present more consistently in AUSTRALIS (see Leatherwood and Reeves 1983); of course, the two taxa cannot be mistaken in the field since their ranges are far apart.

• Marine

Depending on the time of year and which hemisphere they're found, right whales will spend much of their time near bays and peninsulas and in shallow, coastal waters. This can provide shelter, food abundance, and security for females rearing young or avoiding the mating efforts of males. Four critical habitats for northern right whales are the Browns-Baccaro Bank, Bay of Fundy, Great South Channel, and the Cape Cod Bay. Each of these is distinguished by high densities of copepod populations. The first three have deep basins (150 m) flanked by relatively shallow water. Copepods are concentrated here because of convergences and upwellings driven by tidal currents. This also occurs in the Cape Cod Bay even though a deep basin isn't present.

(Cummings 1985, Katona 1999)

Habitat Regions: temperate ; polar ; saltwater or marine

Aquatic Biomes: coastal

Habitat Type: Marine

Comments: Inhabits nearshore and offshore waters. Mainly coastal in the North Atlantic, occurs over the continental shelf in the North Pacific (Right Whale Recovery Team 1990). Tynan et al. (2001) found a few of the remaining North Pacific animals concentrated in relatively warm (10.4 C SST), shallow (50 to 80 m deep), well-stratified water in an extensive coccolithophore bloom of Emiliania huxleyi. Mother-calf pairs generally concentrate their summer feeding activities in relatively secluded areas away from sites frequented by other whales (Schaeff et al. 1993).

The species associated with this page are major players in the pelagic ecosystem of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Stellwagen Bank is an undersea gravel and sand deposit stretching between Cape Cod and Cape Ann off the coast of Massachussets. Protected since 1993 as the region’s first National Marine Sanctuary, the bank is known primarily for whale-watching and commercial fishing of cod, lobster, hake, and other species (Eldredge 1993). 

Massachusetts Bay, and Stellwagen Bank in particular, show a marked concentration of biodiversity in comparison to the broader coastal North Atlantic. This diversity is supported from the bottom of the food chain. The pattern of currents and bathymetry in the area support high levels of phytoplankton productivity, which in turn support dense populations of schooling fish such as sand lance, herring, and mackerel, all important prey for larger fish, mammals, and seabirds (NOAA 2010). Sightings of many species of whales and seabirds are best predicted by spatial and temporal distribution of prey species (Jiang et al 2007; NOAA 2010), providing support for the theory that the region’s diversity is productivity-driven.

Stellwagen Bank is utilized as a significant migration stopover point for many species of shorebird. Summer visitors include Wilson’s storm-petrel, shearwaters, Arctic terns, and red phalaropes, while winter visitors include black-legged kittiwakes, great cormorants, Atlantic puffins, and razorbills. Various cormorants and gulls, the common murre, and the common eider all form significant breeding colonies in the sanctuary as well (NOAA 2010). The community of locally-breeding birds in particular is adversely affected by human activity. As land use along the shore changes and fishing activity increases, the prevalence of garbage and detritus favors gulls, especially herring and black-backed gulls. As gull survivorship increases, gulls begin to dominate competition for nesting sites, to the detriment of other species (NOAA 2010). 

In addition to various other cetaceans and pinnipeds, the world’s only remaining population of North Atlantic right whales summers in the Stellwagen Bank sanctuary. Right whales and other baleen whales feed on the abundant copepods and phytoplankton of the region, while toothed whales, pinnipeds, and belugas feed on fish and cephalopods (NOAA 2010). The greatest direct threats to cetaceans in the sanctuary are entanglement with fishing gear and death by vessel strikes (NOAA 2010), but a growing body of evidence suggests that noise pollution harms marine mammals by masking their acoustic communication and damaging their hearing (Clark et al 2009).

General threats to the ecosystem as a whole include overfishing and environmental contaminants. Fishing pressure in the Gulf of Maine area has three negative effects. First and most obviously, it reduces the abundance of fish species, harming both the fish and all organisms dependent on the fish as food sources. Secondly, human preference for large fish disproportionately damages the resilience of fish populations, as large females produce more abundant, higher quality eggs than small females. Third, by preferentially catching large fish, humans have exerted an intense selective pressure on food fish species for smaller body size. This extreme selective pressure has caused a selective sweep, diminishing the variation in gene pools of many commercial fisheries (NOAA 2010). While the waters of the SBNMS are significantly cleaner than Massachusetts Bay as a whole, elevated levels of PCBs have been measured in cetaceans and seabird eggs (NOAA 2010). Additionally, iron and copper leaching from the contaminated sediments of Boston Harbor occasionally reach the preserve (Li et al 2010). 

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Migrates seasonally between high latitudes (summer) and lower latitudes (winter), though migrations are less regular and coherent than those of humpback or gray whale (Leatherwood and Reeves 1983).

North Atlantic: generally most spend early summer off the coast of New England, move to waters off southern Canada (lower Bay of Fundy or area between Browns and Baccaro banks) in late summer and fall; some remain in northern waters in winter but most leave (beginning as early as October); pregnant females move south to winter calving areas off Georgia and Florida; wintering area for the rest of the population is unknown; northward movement occurs in late winter and early spring; perhaps most of the population moves through the Cape Cod-Massachusetts Bay area and Great South Channel March-May (Right Whale Recovery Team 1990). Females usually and males commonly return to their natal area in subsequent summers (Schaeff et al. 1993).

North Pacific: may be nomadic in summer, movements depending on where food resources are abundant; winter range is largely unknown (Right Whale Recovery Team 1990).

Northern right whales tend to skim near the surface of the water feeding on small copepods, krill, and euphausiids. The whales swim along the surface, or just below, with their mouth open, skimming the zooplankton from the water. The water passes through a series of large baleen plates which filter out the food. The whale will skim the surface for a while, then close its mouth and push its tongue against the baleen to collect its meal. Whales tend not to feed until they find large concentrations of food. When they find these concentrations, they swim through the mass, making accurate adjustments to their course in order to maximize their intake (Slijper 1979, Evans 1987).

Animal Foods: aquatic crustaceans; zooplankton

Foraging Behavior: filter-feeding

Primary Diet: planktivore

Comments: Diet mainly calanoid copepods and juvenile euphausiids. Feeds by skimming--swims with mouth open usually below the surface, sometimes at the surface. Depends on concentrations of zooplankton. In Bay of Fundy, appeared to exploit patches of copepods at densities greater than about 820 per cubic m (Murison and Gaskin 1989). In Cape Cod Bay, rarely fed where total zooplankton density was less than 1000 organisms per cubic meter (Mayo and Marx 1990). In the southeastern Bering Sea, fed primarily on later copepodite stages of the calanoid copepod Calanus marshallae. Historically (1940s-1960s), this population had concentrated on the oceanic copepod Neocalanus cristatus in deeper waters (Tynan et al. 2001).

Baleen whales, like northern right whales, are important as predators on krill and other planktonic invertebrates in marine environments.

Although they typically don't live together in groups, they may temporarily cluster together to form a defensive circle when threatened by a potential predator. In those circumstances, the whales form a circle with flailing tails pointed outwards. They may also move into shallow waters to attempt to overt the predator but sharks and killer whales (orcas) are able to continue to stalk in these depths. The right whale was hunted by man easily because it comes close to shore, is slow-moving and floats when killed (Evans 1987).

These whales are protected from most predators by their formidable size, calves may be targeted by killer whales (orcas) and sharks.

Known Predators:

• humans (Homo sapiens)
• killer whales (Orcinus orca)
• sharks (Chondrichthyes)

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 1 - 5

Comments: Probably fewer than five nursery areas; only three or four populations.

250 - 1000 individuals

Comments: Total population is estimated at 200-350 in the North Atlantic (NMFS 1987, Right Whale Recovery Team 1990, Mayo and Marx 1990). North Atlantic population produced 8-13 calves per year in the 1980s (Matthews and Moseley 1990).

Travels singly or in small groups of 2-3, though may aggregate in areas with high concentration of food.

Right whales make simple and complex low-frequency noises and a "belch-like utterance" that is their most common sound. These low-frequency sounds are chacteristic of balleen whales while high-frequency sounds are more typical of toothed whales. Other sounds are described as grunting, mooing, moaning, sighing, and bellowing. The maximum energy (Hz) recorded in southern right whales ranged from 50-500 and the duration ranged from 0.5 to 6.0 seconds. (Slijper 1979)

Communication Channels: tactile ; acoustic

Perception Channels: acoustic ; ultrasound

Comments: Active day/night.

Data on mean longevity are not yet available. An indication that potential longevity can be very long was obtained by serendipity. A picture was taken of a female and her calf in 1935 in Florida. The animal was seen in 1959 off Cape Cod and irregularly until the summer of 1995. Assuming it was her first calf in the original picture and she was at the age of sexual maturity or eight years old, she would have been 67 years old when last seen.

Their close relatives, bowhead whales, have been recorded with lifespans approaching 200 years, so it's likely that right whales have very long lifespans.

(Katona 1999)

Range lifespan

Status: wild: 67 (high) years.

Average lifespan

Status: captivity: 67 years.

Eubalaena glacialis copulates from December to March, when most of the young are born. After much nuzzling and caressing, mating right whales roll about randomly exposing flippers, flukes, backs, bellies, and portions of their heads. It has been noted that the male would sometimes begin precopulatory behavior by placing his chin on the exposed hindquarters of the female. It is believed that most right whales are polygamous and no permanent pair bonds are formed. Females probably mate with multiple males. No aggression has been observed between competing males, which is a rare behavior in mammals. Courting bouts may last for an hour or two, after which participants go their own way. Both males and females are seen on their back at the water's surface but females may show this posture to move her genitalia away from a pursuing male. Males tend to have the largest testes of an living mammal (weighing up to about 525 kg.), suggesting that sperm competition may play a significant role in determining mating success.

Mating System: polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Northern right whales mate in the winter and give birth in the spring to a single young. Females give birth to up to one calf every three to four years. Young are typically born in winter.

Males are sexually mature at a length of 15 m and females at 15.5 m, these sizes may be reached between 5 and 10 years of age.

Breeding interval: Females give birth to a single calf every 3 to 4 years.

Breeding season: Mating and births occur in the winter.

Average number of offspring: 1.

Average gestation period: 12 months.

Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 5 to 10 years.

Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 5 to 10 years.

Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); fertilization (Internal ); viviparous

Average gestation period: 350 days.

Average number of offspring: 1.

Right whales are 4.5 to 6 meters in length when they are born. They grow rapidly thereafter, attaining a size of 12 meters by 18 months old. The length of lactation and dependence are not well known.

Parental Investment: precocial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female)

Gestation may be about 16 months (Right Whale Recovery Team 1990) (also reported as 11-12 months and 13-14 months). Peak in calving apparently occurs from December through March off the southeastern U.S. (Right Whale Recovery Team 1990). Young nurse for at least 9 months (Right Whale Recovery Team 1990) (another report: weaned in 6-7 months). During their first year, calves accompany their mothers during the spring migration and summer feeding (Schaeff et al. 1993). Sexually mature in 5-9 years. Mean age of first parturition is 7.6 years (Knowlton et al. 1994). One calf is produced generally every 3-5 years.

What was long treated as a single right whale species is now recognized as three distinct species by both scientists and federal regulatory agencies (Rosenbaum et al. 2000; Gaines et al. 2005; http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/cetaceans/). The North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica), which inhabits the Pacific Ocean, especially between 20^o and 60^o N latitude, is now widely recognized as a species distinct from the North Atlantic right whale. Similarly, the Southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) is now recognized as a distinct species occurring in the southern hemisphere betwen around 20^o and 60^o S latitude.

• 1996
  Endangered
• 1996
  Endangered
• 1994
  Endangered
  (Groombridge 1994)
• 1994
  Endangered
  (Groombridge 1994)
• 1990
  Endangered
  (IUCN 1990)
• 1990
  Vulnerable
  (IUCN 1990)
• 1988
  Endangered
  (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988)
• 1986
  Endangered
  (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986)

Northern right whales tend to move through the ocean at a fairly slow pace for an animal of their size, they feed near the surface, and they float when killed; thus they were considered the "right" catch for whalers. Hunting of right whales began as early as the 10th century. These whales were hunted extensively during the 19th century, with as many as 100,000 whales slaughtered during this time. Right whales were driven close to extinction early in the 20th century and were one of the first whales to be given international protection in 1935. At the first international Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1935, a total ban on hunting right whales was established. The protection of this species was broadened in 1972 with the passing of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. A major issue revolving around the conservation of the right whale is habitat modification. Especially since they use shallow coastal lagoons and bays for breeding. Their numbers are stable and may even be increasing slightly in the Northwest Atlantic and off South Africa. The most current population estimate of 295 whales may represent the approximate carrying capacity. The carrying capacity could be increased though if collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear was decreased. It may be decades before the health of the right whale population is recovered. A recovery plan has been established with the difficult duty of managing a species that is hard to track. Luckily, activity modifications are taking place by people like the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, ship traffic controllers in major shipping lanes, and others. Funding is always a major obstacle but support is being seen by individual institutions, states, and relevant sectors of the federal government (Cummings 1985, Katona 1999).

Northern Atlantic right whales are the most critically endangered great whale, with fewer than 300 individuals estimated. Populations of this species don't show significant signs of increasing in number, despite a ban on hunting. At the current population numbers species extinction is expected in 190 years.

Current threats to right whales include collisions with boats, since they tend to rest and feed at the surface frequently, pollution, becoming entangled in fish nets, and sonic pollution and disruption caused by military practices.

The history of research and conservation of northern right whales provides a number of lessons that may be applicable to other endangered species. First, sufficient funding must be provided to carry out an effective management program. Second, persistence and patience is needed to develop and implement a slow moving research program. Third, studies may not meet traditional scientific standards of proof because sample sizes are so small. Fourth, effective conservation will require cooperation from federal and state agencies as well as nongovernmental groups. Fifth, incidental take of a species is much harder to regulate than directed take like hunting. Lastly, we should never become complacent about the state of our knowledge (Katona 1999).

US Federal List: endangered

CITES: appendix i

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: endangered

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N1 - Critically Imperiled

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N1 - Critically Imperiled

Rounded Global Status Rank: G1 - Critically Imperiled

Reasons: Remnant populations occur in the North Atlantic; extremely low numbers; populations have failed to increase significantly even with protection; threats include collisions with boats, entanglement in fishing gear, disturbance by human activity, and general marine environmental deterioration.

Intrinsic Vulnerability: Highly vulnerable

Comments: Slow to mature, reproduces infrequently.

Other Considerations: Low reproductive rate; lack of recovery despite full protection.

Global Short Term Trend: Decline of 10-30%

Global Long Term Trend: Decline of >90%

Comments: Formerly abundant, but hunted to near-extinction. North Atlantic population thought to have increased somewhat after the cessation of whaling, but apparently began declining once more after about 1990 (Caswell et al. 1999, Fugiwara and Caswell 2001).

Degree of Threat: A : Very threatened throughout its range communities directly exploited or their composition and structure irreversibly threatened by man-made forces, including exotic species

Comments: Initial large decline due primarily to hunting that occurred through the mid-1930s. Lack of population recovery has been attributed to mortality caused by collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear, degradation of feeding habitat (e.g., through effects of pollution on zooplankton), human disturbance (ships) (Right Whale Recovery Team 1990). Fujiwara and Caswell's (2001) analysis points to mortality of adult females caused by collisions as the primary factor in the decline. In fact, they suggest that reducing the death rate by only two adult females per year would reverse the decline. MtDNA data, in conjunction with behavioral and population data that indicate that the North Atlantic population may be suffering from reduced fertility, fecundity, and juvenile survivorship, support the hypothesis that inbreeding depression is also a cause of the lack of recovery (Schaeff et al. 1997). However, the data analysis and modelling of Fujiwara and Caswell (2001) do not support this hypothesis.

Restoration Potential: No signs of recovery despite over 60 years of protection.

Management Requirements: In 1996, NMFS proposed rules that would prohibit vessels from approaching a right whale closer than 460 m (Federal Register, 7 August 1996). To avoid jeopardy to right whales, NMFS (Federal Register, 3 November 1997) proposed closing the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Coastal segments of the Atlantic pelagic drift gillnet fishery for swordfish, tuna, and shark through 31 July 1998.

Biological Research Needs: Determine reasons for lack of recovery.

Global Protection: Many to very many (13 to >40) occurrences appropriately protected and managed

Comments: Species has had almost complete protection since 1937; but needs more protected habitat. NMFS (Federal Register, 3 June 1994, p. 28793) designated Critical Habitat as follows: portions of Cape Cod Bay and Stellwagen Bank, and Great South Channel (off coast of Massachusetts) and waters adjacent to the coast of Georgia and the east coast of Florida.

Needs: Continue to protect from hunting; protect habitat; promote and enforce regulations that reduce collisions with vessels. See recovery plan (1990).

There are no negative effects of northern right whales on humans.

At least 1,000 years ago, the exploitation of this species began by hunters. Mainly, these whales were taken for blubber, used for oil for illumination, and for meat. No longer is this the primary threat to right whales. The main economic gain comes from eco-tourism which continues to be a fast growing industry (Katona 1999).

Positive Impacts: body parts are source of valuable material; ecotourism

Comments: Tens of thousands were harvested during the past few centuries; main exploitation ended around the 1920s; see IUCN (1991) for a review of exploitation history.

Comments: Bowhead whales and right whales often have been included in the same genus (Balaena) (e.g., Rice 1998), but most recent classifications recognize them as distinct genera (Balaena for bowhead whale, Eubalaena for right whales) (e.g., Baker et al. 2003; Mead and Brownell, in Wilson and Reeder 2005). MtDNA data are consistent with recognition of Balaena and Eubalaena as distinct genera (Rosenbaum et al. 2000).

A strong consensus does not exist regarding the taxonomic status of the various populations of right whales. Based on mtDNA data, Rosenbaum et al. (2000) proposed that the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Southern Hemisphere populations could be recognized as distinct species (E. glacialis, E. japonica, and E. australis, respectively). Baker et al. (2003) argued against this proposal, noting among other things that no other consistent differences have been found among the three populations. The recovery plan for this species and Mead and Brownell (in Wilson and Reeder 1993) regarded the southern right whale (E. australis) as a distinct species, but Rice (1998) and Baker et al. (2003) included australis in Eubalaena (or Balaena) glacialis. Mead and Brownell (in Wilson and Reeder 2005) cited Rosenbaum et al. (2000) in recognizing E. glacialis, E. australis, and E. japonica as distinct species.

Sighting and mtDNA data indicate that western North Atlantic right whales segregate between separate nursery areas but probably represent a single breeding population (Schaeff et al. 1993).