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The bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus'') is a
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
baleen whale Baleen whales (systematic name Mysticeti), also known as whalebone whales, are a parvorder of carnivorous marine mammals of the infraorder Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises) which use keratinaceous baleen plates (or "whalebone") in their ...
belonging to the family
Balaenidae Balaenidae () is a family of whales of the parvorder Mysticeti that contains two living genera: the right whales (genus ''Eubalaena''), and in a separate genus, the closely related bowhead whale (genus ''Balaena''). Evolutionary history Bale ...
and the only living representative of the
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
''
Balaena ''Balaena'' is a genus of cetacean (whale) in the family Balaenidae. ''Balaena'' is considered a monotypic genus, as it has only a single extant species, the bowhead whale (''B. mysticetus''). It was named in 1758 by Linnaeus, who at the time con ...
''. They are the only baleen whale
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the
Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...
and
subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Generally, ...
waters, and are named after their characteristic massive triangular skull, which they use to break through Arctic ice. Other common names of the species are the Greenland right whale, Arctic whale, and Arviq in aboriginal languages (
Inuktitut Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...
). American whalemen called them the steeple-top, polar whale, or Russian whale. Bowheads have the largest mouth of any animal representing almost one-third of the length of the body, the longest baleen plates with a maximum length of and may be the longest-lived mammals, with the ability to reach an age of more than 200 years. The bowhead was an early
whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...
target. Their population was severely reduced before a 1966 moratorium was passed to protect the species. Of the five stocks of bowhead populations, three are listed as "
endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
", one as " vulnerable", and one as "lower risk, conservation dependent" according to the
IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...
. The global population is assessed as of
least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
.


Taxonomy

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
named this species in the tenth edition of his ''
Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...
'' (1758). It was seemingly identical to its relatives in the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and
Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...
s, and as such they were all thought to be a single species, collectively known as the "right whale", and given the
binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''Balaena mysticetus''. Today, the bowhead whale occupies a
monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
, separate from the
right whale Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus ''Eubalaena'': the North Atlantic right whale (''E. glacialis''), the North Pacific right whale (''E. japonica'') and the Southern right whale (''E. australis''). They are clas ...
s, as proposed by the work of
John Edward Gray John Edward Gray, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for ...
in 1821. "The taxonomy is not in doubt.... Concerning common names, the species was once commonly known in the North Atlantic and adjacent Arctic as the Greenland Right Whale. However, the common name Bowhead Whale is now generally used for the species." For the next 180 years, the family Balaenidae was the subject of great taxonometric debate. Authorities have repeatedly recategorized the three populations of right whale plus the bowhead whale, as one, two, three or four species, either in a single genus or in two separate genera. Eventually, it was recognized that bowheads and right whales were different, but there was still no strong consensus as to whether they shared a single genus or two. As recently as 1998, Dale Rice, in his comprehensive and otherwise authoritative classification, ''Marine Mammals of the World: Systematics and Distribution'', listed just two species: ''B. glacialis'' (the right whales) and ''B. mysticetus'' (the bowheads). Studies in the 2000s finally provided clear evidence that the three living right whale species comprise a
phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
lineage, distinct from the bowhead, and that the bowhead and the right whales are rightly classified into two separate genera. The right whales were thus confirmed to be in a separate genus, ''
Eubalaena Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus ''Eubalaena'': the North Atlantic right whale (''E. glacialis''), the North Pacific right whale (''E. japonica'') and the Southern right whale (''E. australis''). They are clas ...
''. The relationship is shown in the
cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ...
below: The earlier fossil record shows no related cetacean after ''
Morenocetus ''Morenocetus'' is an extinct genus of primitive Balaenidae, balaenid from the Early Miocene (Burdigalian and Colhuehuapian in the South American land mammal age, SALMA classification) Gaiman Formation of Patagonia, Argentina. Description ''Mo ...
'', found in a South American deposit dating back 23 million years. An unknown species of right whale, the so-called "Swedenborg whale", which was proposed by
Emanuel Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg (, ; born Emanuel Swedberg; 29 March 1772) was a Swedish pluralistic-Christian theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic. He became best known for his book on the afterlife, ''Heaven and Hell'' (1758). Swedenborg had ...
in the 18th century, was once thought to be a North Atlantic right whale by scientific consensus. Based on later DNA analysis, those fossil bones claimed to be from Swedenborg whales were confirmed to be from bowhead whales.


Description

The bowhead whale has a large, robust, dark-coloured body and a white chin/lower jaw. It has a massive triangular
skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
, which it uses to break through the
Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...
ice to breathe.
Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
hunters have reported bowheads surfacing through of ice.Würsig, B. and C. Clark (1993). "Behavior". In Burns et al. It also possesses a strongly bowed lower jaw and a narrow upper jaw. Its
baleen Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and ...
is the longest of that of any whale, at , and is used to strain tiny prey from the water. The bowhead whale has paired blowholes at the highest point of the head, which can spout a blow high. The bowhead's
blubber Blubber is a thick layer of vascularized adipose tissue under the skin of all cetaceans, pinnipeds, penguins, and sirenians. Description Lipid-rich, collagen fiber-laced blubber comprises the hypodermis and covers the whole body, except for pa ...
is the thickest of that of any animal, with a maximum of .Lowry, L. F. (1993). "Foods and Feeding Ecology". In Burns et al. Unlike most cetaceans, the bowhead does not have a
dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...
- an adaptation for spending much time under sea-surface ice.Haldiman, J. T. and R. J. Tarpley (1993). "Anatomy & Physiology". In Burns et al. Like the
sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...
and other cetaceans, the bowhead whale has a vestigial pelvis that is not connected to the spine. Bowhead whales are comparable in size to the three species of
right whales Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus ''Eubalaena'': the North Atlantic right whale (''E. glacialis''), the North Pacific right whale (''E. japonica'') and the Southern right whale (''E. australis''). They are class ...
. According to whaling captain
William Scoresby William Scoresby (5 October 178921 March 1857) was an English whaler, Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman. Early years Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering south-west of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, William ...
Jr., the longest bowhead he measured was long, while the longest measurement he had ever heard of was of a whale caught at
Godhavn Qeqertarsuaq () is a port and town in Qeqertalik municipality, located on the south coast of Disko Island on the west coast of Greenland. Founded in 1773, the town is now home to a campus of the University of Copenhagen known as Arctic Station. ...
, Greenland, in early 1813. He also spoke of one, caught near
Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...
around 1800, that was allegedly nearly long. In 1850, an American vessel claimed to have caught a individual in the Western Arctic. Whether these lengths were actually measured is questionable. The longest reliably measured were a male of and a female of , both landed in Alaska.Koski, William R., Rolph A. Davis, Gary W. Miller, and David E. Withrow (1993). "Reproduction", p. 245 in Burns et al. On average, female bowheads are larger than males. The adults would have likely measured in length and in body mass, but larger individuals (like the one claimed in 1850) may weigh up to . Analysis of hundreds of DNA samples from living whales and from
baleen Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and ...
used in vessels, toys, and housing material has shown that Arctic bowhead whales have lost a significant portion of their genetic diversity in the past 500 years. Bowheads originally crossed ice-covered inlets and straits to exchange genes between Atlantic and Pacific populations. This conclusion was derived from analyzing maternal lineage using
mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
. Whaling and climatic cooling during the
Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. Ma ...
, from the 16th century to the 19th, is supposed to have reduced the whales' summer habitats, which explains the loss of genetic diversity. A 2013 discovery has clarified the function of the bowhead's large palatal retial organ. The bulbous ridge of highly vascularized tissue, the corpus cavernosum maxillaris, extends along the centre of the hard plate, forming two large lobes at the rostral palate. The tissue is histologically similar to that of the corpus cavernosum of the mammalian
penis A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males do n ...
. This organ is thought to provide a mechanism of cooling for the whale (which is normally protected from the cold Arctic waters by or more of fat). During physical exertion, the whale must cool itself to prevent
hyperthermia Hyperthermia, also known simply as overheating, is a condition in which an individual's body temperature is elevated beyond normal due to failed thermoregulation. The person's body produces or absorbs more heat than it dissipates. When extreme ...
(and ultimately brain damage). This organ becomes engorged with blood, and as the whale opens its mouth cold seawater flows over the organ, thus cooling the blood.


Behaviour


Swimming

The bowhead whale is not a social animal, typically travelling alone or in small pods of up to six. It is able to dive and remain submerged under water for up to an hour. The time spent under water in a single dive is usually limited to 9–18 minutes. The bowhead is not thought to be a deep diver, but can reach a depth down to . It is a slow swimmer, normally travelling around .55–1.39 m/s When fleeing from danger, it can travel at a speed of []. During periods of feeding, the average swim speed is increased to .


Feeding

The head of the bowhead whale comprises a third of its body length, creating an enormous feeding apparatus. The bowhead whale is a
filter feeder Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over a specialized filtering structure. Some animals that use this method of feedin ...
, and feeds by swimming forward with its mouth wide open. It has hundreds of overlapping
baleen Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and ...
plates consisting of
keratin Keratin () is one of a family of structural fibrous proteins also known as ''scleroproteins''. Alpha-keratin (α-keratin) is a type of keratin found in vertebrates. It is the key structural material making up scales, hair, nails, feathers, ho ...
hanging from each side of the upper jaw. The mouth has a large, upturning lip on the lower jaw that helps to reinforce and hold the baleen plates within the mouth. This also prevents buckling or breakage of the plates from the pressure of the water passing through them as the whale advances. To feed, water is filtered through the fine hairs of keratin of the baleen plates, trapping the prey inside near the tongue where it is then swallowed.Bowhead Whale
. American Cetacean Society. Retrieved on 16 November 2015.
The diet consists of mostly
zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...
, which includes
copepods Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), a number of species have p ...
,
amphipods Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descri ...
, and many other
crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...
. About of food are consumed each day. While foraging, bowheads are solitary or occur in groups of two to 10 or more.


Vocalization

Bowhead whales are highly vocal and use low frequency (<1000 Hz) sounds to communicate while travelling, feeding, and socialising. Intense calls for communication and navigation are produced especially during migration season. During breeding season, bowheads make long, complex, variable songs for mating calls. From 2010 through to 2014, near
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
, 184 distinct songs were recorded from a population of around 300 animals.


Reproduction

Sexual activity occurs between pairs and in boisterous groups of several males and one or two females. Breeding season is observed from March through August; conception is believed to occur primarily in March when song activity is at its highest. Reproduction can begin when a whale is 10 to 15 years old. The
gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregna ...
period is 13–14 months with females producing a calf once every three to four years.
Lactation Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all sexually mature female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The proces ...
typically lasts about a year. To survive in the cold water immediately after birth, calves are born with a thick layer of
blubber Blubber is a thick layer of vascularized adipose tissue under the skin of all cetaceans, pinnipeds, penguins, and sirenians. Description Lipid-rich, collagen fiber-laced blubber comprises the hypodermis and covers the whole body, except for pa ...
. Within 30 minutes of birth, bowhead calves are able to swim on their own. A newborn calf is typically long, weighs roughly , and grows to within the first year.


Health


Lifespan

Bowhead whales are considered to be the longest-living mammals, living for over 200 years. In May 2007, a specimen caught off the
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
n coast was discovered with the head of an explosive
bomb lance A bomb lance is a projectile weapon used in whaling to injure and kill the object of the hunt. As the name implies, it does its work by explosively detonating once it has embedded itself into a whale. The conditions of whale hunting in the arctic ...
of a model manufactured between 1879 and 1885, so the whale was probably bomb lanced sometime between those years, and its age at the time of death was estimated at between 115 and 130 years. Spurred by this discovery, scientists measured the ages of other bowhead whales; one specimen was estimated to be 211 years old. Other bowhead whales were estimated to be between 135 and 172 years old. This discovery showed the
longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always d ...
of the bowhead whale is much greater than originally thought. According to researchers at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, the genome sequence revealed bowhead whales' maximum lifespan to be 268 years.


Genetic benefits

A greater number of cells present in an organism was once believed to result in greater chances of
mutations In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mi ...
that cause age-related diseases and
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. Although the bowhead whale has thousands of times more cells than other mammals, it has a much higher resistance to cancer and aging. In 2015, scientists from the US and UK were able to successfully map the whale's
genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...
. Through comparative analysis, two
alleles An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution. ::"The chro ...
that could be responsible for the whale's longevity were identified. These two specific gene mutations linked to the bowhead whale's ability to live longer are the ''
ERCC1 DNA excision repair protein ERCC-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''ERCC1'' gene. Together with ERCC4, ERCC1 forms the ERCC1-XPF enzyme complex that participates in DNA repair and DNA recombination. Many aspects of these two gene ...
'' gene and the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (''
PCNA Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is a DNA clamp that acts as a processivity factor for DNA polymerase δ in eukaryotic cells and is essential for replication. PCNA is a homotrimer and achieves its processivity by encircling the DNA, whe ...
'') gene. ''ERCC1'' is linked to
DNA repair DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA dam ...
and increased cancer resistance. ''PCNA'' is also important in DNA repair. These mutations enable bowhead whales to better repair DNA damage, allowing for greater resistance to cancer. The whale's genome may also reveal physiological adaptations such as having low metabolic rates compared to other mammals. Changes in the gene ''
UCP1 Thermogenin (called uncoupling protein by its discoverers and now known as uncoupling protein 1, or UCP1) is a mitochondrial carrier protein found in brown adipose tissue (BAT). It is used to generate heat by non-shivering thermogenesis, and makes ...
'', a gene involved in
thermoregulation Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature ...
, can explain differences in the metabolic rates in cells.


Ecology


Range and habitat

The bowhead whale is the only baleen whale to spend its entire life in the Arctic and subarctic waters.Moore, S. E., and R. R. Reeves (1993). "Distribution and Movement". In Burns et al. The
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
n population spends the winter months in the southwestern
Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...
. The group migrates northward in the spring, following openings in the ice, into the Chukchi and
Beaufort Beaufort may refer to: People and titles * Beaufort (surname) * House of Beaufort, English nobility * Duke of Beaufort (England), a title in the peerage of England * Duke of Beaufort (France), a title in the French nobility Places Polar regions ...
seas. The whale's range varies depending on
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
s and on the forming/melting of ice. Historically, bowhead whales' range may have been broader and more southerly than currently thought. Bowheads were abundant around Labrador, Newfoundland (
Strait of Belle Isle The Strait of Belle Isle (; french: Détroit de Belle Isle ) is a waterway in eastern Canada that separates the Labrador Peninsula from the island of Newfoundland, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Location The strait is the northern o ...
) and the northern Gulf of St Lawrence until at least the 16th and 17th centuries. It is unclear whether this was due to the colder climate during these periods. Distributions of ''
Balaena ''Balaena'' is a genus of cetacean (whale) in the family Balaenidae. ''Balaena'' is considered a monotypic genus, as it has only a single extant species, the bowhead whale (''B. mysticetus''). It was named in 1758 by Linnaeus, who at the time con ...
'' spp. during the Pleistocene were far more southerly as fossils have been excavated from Italy and
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, thus could have overlapped between those of ''
Eubalaena Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus ''Eubalaena'': the North Atlantic right whale (''E. glacialis''), the North Pacific right whale (''E. japonica'') and the Southern right whale (''E. australis''). They are clas ...
'' based on those locations.


Population

Generally, five stocks of bowhead whales are recognized: 1) the Western Arctic stock in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas, 2) the Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin stock, 3) the Baffin Bay and Davis Strait stock, 4) the Sea of Okhotsk stock, and 5) the Svalbard-Barents Sea stock. However, recent evidence suggests that the Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin stock and the Baffin Bay and Davis Strait stock should be considered one stock based on genetics and movements of tagged whales.


Western Arctic

The Western Arctic bowhead population, also known as the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort population, has recovered since the commercial harvest of this stock ceased in the early 1900s. A 2019 study estimated that the Western Arctic population was 12,505; although it was lower than the 2011 value of 16,820, the surveyors believed there was no significant decline in 2011-2019 due to the unusual conditions of whale migration and observation in 2019. The yearly growth rate of the Western Arctic bowhead population was 3.7% from 1978 to 2011. These data suggest that the Western Arctic bowhead stock may be near its precommercial whaling level. Alaskan Natives continue to hunt small numbers of bowhead whales for subsistence purposes. The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission co-manages the bowhead subsistence harvest with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Alaskan villages that participate in the bowhead subsistence harvest include Barrow, Point Hope, Point Lay, Wainwright, Nuiqsut, Kaktovik, Gambell, Savoonga, Kivalina, Wales, and Little Diomede. The annual subsistence harvest of the Western Arctic stock has ranged from 14 to 72, amounting to an estimated 0.1-0.5% of the population.


Baffin Bay and Davis Strait

In March 2008, Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans stated the previous estimates in the eastern Arctic had undercounted, with a new estimate of 14,400 animals (range 4,800–43,000). These larger numbers correspond to prewhaling estimates, indicating the population has fully recovered. However, if climate change substantially shrinks sea ice, these whales could be threatened by increased shipping traffic. The status of other populations is less well known. About 1,200 were off West Greenland in 2006, while the
Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...
population may only number in the tens. However, the numbers have been increasing in recent years.
Norwegian Polar Institute The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI; no, Norsk Polarinstitutt) is Norway's central governmental institution for scientific research, mapping and environmental monitoring in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The NPI is a directorate under Norway's Min ...

Bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus'')
npolar.no


Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin

The
Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...
Foxe Basin Foxe Basin is a shallow oceanic basin north of Hudson Bay, in Nunavut, Canada, located between Baffin Island and the Melville Peninsula. For most of the year, it is blocked by sea ice (fast ice) and drift ice made up of multiple ice floes. Th ...
population is distinct from the
Baffin Bay Baffin Bay ( Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arct ...
Davis Strait Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer Jo ...
group. The original population size of this local group is unclear, but possibly about 500 to 600 whales annually summered in the northwestern part of the bay in the 1860s. It is likely that the number of whales that actually inhabit Hudson Bay is much smaller than the total population size of this group,Hudson Bay-Foxe Basin bowhead whales
Stock status report E5–52. DFO Science, Canada
but reports from local indigenous people indicate that this population is increasing over decades. Larger portions of the bay are used for summering, while wintering is on a smaller scale. Some animals winter in
Hudson Strait Hudson Strait (french: Détroit d'Hudson) links the Atlantic Ocean and Labrador Sea to Hudson Bay in Canada. This strait lies between Baffin Island and Nunavik, with its eastern entrance marked by Cape Chidley in Newfoundland and Labrador and ...
, most notably north of
Igloolik Island Igloolik Island is a small island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is located in the Foxe Basin, very close to the Melville Peninsula (and to a lesser degree, Baffin Island), and it is often thought to be a part of the peninsula. ...
and north eastern Hudson Bay. Distribution patterns in these regions are affected by the presence of
killer whale The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white pa ...
s, and bowheads can disappear from normal ranges in the presence of atypical numbers of orcas. Increased mortality caused by killer whale attack is a possible outcome of
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
, as reduced ice coverage is expected to result in fewer areas that the bowheads can use for shelter from attack. Whaling grounds in the 19th century stretched from
Marble Island Marble Island is one of several uninhabited Canadian arctic islands in Nunavut, Canada, located within western Hudson Bay. The closest community is Rankin Inlet. In the nineteenth century, the island was valued as a harbour for overwintering. ...
to
Roes Welcome Sound Roes Welcome Sound is a long channel at the northwest end of Hudson Bay in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada between the mainland on the west and Southampton Island on the east. It opens south into Hudson Bay. Its north end joins Repulse Bay which ...
and to Lyon Inlet and
Fisher Strait Fisher Strait () is a natural waterway through the central Canadian Arctic Archipelago in the territory of Nunavut. It separates Southampton Island (to the north-west) from Coats Island Coats Island ( Inuktitut: ᐊᑉᐸᑑᕐᔪᐊᖅ, Appatu ...
, and whales still migrate through most of these areas. Distribution within Hudson Bay is mostly restricted to the northwestern part along with
Wager Bay Wager Bay or Ukkusiksalik Bay is long narrow inlet in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut, Canada, which opens east into Roes Welcome Sound at the northwest end of Hudson Bay. Ukkusiksalik National Park surrounds it. History Wager Bay was first ch ...
,
Repulse Bay Repulse Bay or Tsin Shui Wan is a bay in the southern part of Hong Kong Island, located in the Southern District, Hong Kong. It is one of the most expensive residential areas in the world. Geography Repulse Bay is located in the southern ...
,
Southampton Island Southampton Island (Inuktitut: ''Shugliaq'') is a large island at the entrance to Hudson Bay at Foxe Basin. One of the larger members of the Arctic Archipelago, Southampton Island is part of the Kivalliq Region in Nunavut, Canada. The area of the ...
(one of two main know summering areas),
Frozen Strait Frozen Strait is a waterway in Nunavut just north of Hudson Bay between the Melville Peninsula to the north and Southampton Island to the south. It connects Repulse Bay to the west with Foxe Basin to the east. The strait is long, and 19 to 32 km ( ...
, northern Foxe Basin, and north of
Igloolik Igloolik ( Inuktitut syllabics: , ''Iglulik'', ) is an Inuit hamlet in Foxe Basin, Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, northern Canada. Because its location on Igloolik Island is close to Melville Peninsula, it is often mistakenly thought to be on th ...
in summer. Satellite tracking indicates that some portions of the group within the bay do not venture further south than Whale Cove and areas south of Coats and
Mansel Island Mansel Island ( Inuktitut: Pujjunaq), a member of the Arctic Archipelago, is an uninhabited island in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut. It is located in Hudson Bay off of Quebec's Ungava Peninsula. At in size, it is the 159th largest island in th ...
s. Cow – calf pairs and juveniles up to in length make up the majority of summering aggregation in the northern Foxe Basin, while matured males and noncalving females may use the northwestern part of Hudson Bay. Fewer whales also migrate to the west coast of Hudson Bay and Mansel and
Ottawa Islands The Ottawa Islands (Inuit languages, Inuit: ''Arviliit'' or ''Arqvilliit'' in Inuktitut meaning "place where you see bowhead whales") are a group of currently uninhabited islands situated in the eastern edge of Canada, Canada's Hudson Bay. The gro ...
. Bowhead ranges within Hudson Bay are usually considered not to cover southern parts, but at least some whales migrate to locations further south such as
Sanikiluaq Sanikiluaq ( iu, ᓴᓂᑭᓗᐊᖅ ) is a municipality and Inuit community located on the north coast of Flaherty Island in Hudson Bay, on the Belcher Islands. Despite being geographically much closer to the shores of Ontario and Quebec, the co ...
and Churchill river mouth. Congregation within Foxe Basin occurs in a well-defined area of north of Igloolik Island to
Fury and Hecla Strait Fury and Hecla Strait is a narrow (from wide) Arctic seawater channel located in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Geography Situated between Baffin Island to the north and the Melville Peninsula to the south, it connects Foxe Basin on ...
and
Kapuiviit Kapuiviit (Inuktitut syllabics: ''ᑲᐳᐃᕖᑦ'') formerly Jens Munk Island, for Dano-Norwegian explorer Jens Munk, is one of the Canadian arctic islands in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is an uninhabited Baffin Island offshore i ...
and Gifford Fiord, and into
Gulf of Boothia The Gulf of Boothia is a body of water in Nunavut, Canada. Administratively it is divided between the Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Kitikmeot Region on the west and the Qikiqtaaluk Region on the east. It merges north into Prince Regent Inlet, the ...
and
Prince Regent Inlet Prince Regent Inlet () is a body of water in Nunavut, Canada between the west end of Baffin Island (Brodeur Peninsula) and Somerset Island on the west. It opens north into Lancaster Sound and to the south merges into the Gulf of Boothia. The Arct ...
. Northward migrating along western Foxe Basin to eastern side of the basin also occurs in spring.


Sea of Okhotsk

Not much is known about the endangered
Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...
population. To learn more about the population, these mammals have been regularly observed near the
Shantar Islands The Shantar Islands (russian: Шантарские острова, translit=Shantarskiye ostrova) are a group of fifteen islands located off the northwestern shore of the Sea of Okhotsk east of Uda Gulf and north of Academy Bay. Most of the isla ...
, very close to the shore, such as at Ongachan Bay. Several companies provide
whale-watching Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 20 ...
services, which are mostly land-based. According to Russian scientists, this total population likely does not exceed 400 animals. Scientific research on this population was seldom done before 2009, when researchers studying
belugas The beluga whale (/bɪˈluːɡə/) (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the wh ...
noticed concentrations of bowheads in the study area. Thus, bowheads in the Sea of Okhotsk were once called "forgotten whales" by researchers. The WWF welcomed the creation of a nature sanctuary in the region Possibly, vagrants from this population occasionally reach into Asian nations such as off Japan or the
Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
(although this record might be of a right whale). The first documented report of the species in Japanese waters was of a strayed infant () caught in
Osaka Bay Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait. ...
on 23 June 1969, and the first living sighting was of a juvenile around
Shiretoko Peninsula is located on the easternmost portion of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, protruding into the Sea of Okhotsk. It is separated from Kunashir Island, which is now occupied by Russia, by the Nemuro Strait. The name Shiretoko is derived from the ...
(the southernmost of
ice floe An ice floe () is a large pack of floating ice often defined as a flat piece at least 20 m across at its widest point, and up to more than 10 km across. Drift ice is a floating field of sea ice composed of several ice floes. They may caus ...
range in the Northern Hemisphere) on 21 to 23 June 2015. Fossils have been excavated on
Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...
, but it is unclear whether the northern coasts of Japan were once included in seasonal or occasional migration ranges. Genetic studies suggest Okhotsk population share common ancestry with whales in Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Seas, and repeated mixings had occurred between whales in the two seas.


Svalbard-Barents Sea

The most endangered but historically largest of all bowhead populations is the Svalbard/Spitsbergen population. Occurring normally in
Fram Strait The Fram Strait is the passage between Greenland and Svalbard, located roughly between 77°N and 81°N latitudes and centered on the prime meridian. The Greenland and Norwegian Seas lie south of Fram Strait, while the Nansen Basin of the Arctic ...
,
Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...
and
Severnaya Zemlya Severnaya Zemlya (russian: link=no, Сéверная Земля́ (Northern Land), ) is a archipelago in the Russian high Arctic. It lies off Siberia's Taymyr Peninsula, separated from the mainland by the Vilkitsky Strait. This archipelago s ...
along
Kara Sea The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. ...
to
Laptev Sea The Laptev Sea ( rus, мо́ре Ла́птевых, r=more Laptevykh; sah, Лаптевтар байҕаллара, translit=Laptevtar baỹğallara) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, th ...
and
East Siberian Sea The East Siberian Sea ( rus, Восто́чно-Сиби́рское мо́ре, r=Vostochno-Sibirskoye more) is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the Arctic Cape to the north, the coast of Siberia to the south, the New Si ...
regions, these whales were seen in entire coastal regions in European and Russian Arctic, even reaching to
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
ic and Scandinavian coasts and
Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger nort ...
in
Greenland Sea The Greenland Sea is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Greenland Sea is often defined as p ...
, and west of Cape Farewell and western
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
coasts. Also, bowheads in this stock were possibly once abundant in areas adjacent to the
White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...
region, where few or no animals currently migrate, such as the
Kola KOLA (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Redlands, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. It is owned by the Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation and it airs a classic hits radio for ...
and
Kanin Peninsula The Kanin Peninsula () is a large peninsula in Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is surrounded by the White Sea to the west and by the Barents Sea to the north and east. Shoyna is one of the few communities on the peninsula. Fauna For cetacea ...
. Today, the number of sightings elsewhere is very small, but with increasing regularities with whales having strong regional connections. Whales have also started approaching townships and inhabited areas such as around
Longyearbyen Longyearbyen (, locally lɔ̀ŋjɑrˌbyːən "The Longyear Town") is the world's northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000 and the largest inhabited area of Svalbard, Norway. It stretches along the foot of the left bank ...
. The waters around the marine mammal sanctuary of
Franz Josef Land , native_name = , image_name = Map of Franz Josef Land-en.svg , image_caption = Map of Franz Josef Land , image_size = , map_image = Franz Josef Land location-en.svg , map_caption = Location of Franz Josef ...
is possibly functioning as the most important habitat for this population. It is unclear whether this population is a remnant of the historic Svalbard group, recolonized individuals from other stocks, or if a mixing of these two or more stocks has taken place. In 2015, discoveries of the refuge along eastern Greenland where whaling ships could not reach due to ice floes and largest numbers of whales (80–100 individuals) ever sighted between Spitsbergen and Greenland indicate that more whales than previously considered survived whaling periods, and flows from the other populations are possible.


Possible moulting area off Baffin Island

During expeditions by a tour operator 'Arctic Kingdom', a large group of bowheads seemingly involved in courtship activities was discovered in very shallow bays south of
Qikiqtarjuaq Qikiqtarjuaq (; formerly known as Broughton Island until November 1998 ,) is a community located on Broughton Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. The island is known for Arctic wildlife (ring seals, polar bears, bowhead whales, ...
in 2012. Floating skins and rubbing behaviours at sea bottom indicated possible
moulting In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...
had taken place. Moulting behaviours had never or seldom been documented for this species before. This area is an important habitat for whales that were observed to be relatively active and to interact with humans positively, or to rest on sea floors. These whales belong to
Davis Strait Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer Jo ...
stock. Isabella Bay in Niginganiq National Wildlife Area is the first wildlife sanctuary in the world to be designed specially for bowhead whales. However, moultings have not been recorded in this area due to environmental factors.


Predation

In 1978 the
International Whaling Commission The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation of ...
(IWC) introduced a hunting strike quota for the Bering- Chukchi-
Beaufort Sea The Beaufort Sea (; french: Mer de Beaufort, Iñupiaq: ''Taġiuq'') is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, and west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after Sir Fr ...
(BCB) bowhead. The quota has remained at 67 strikes per year since 1998 and represents about 0.5 percent of BCB population. The population of bowheads in West Greenland and Canada is estimated to be 6,000 and rising, and hunts in this are minimal (<0.001 percent). Both stocks are rising, and the indigenous hunts seem to be self-sustaining.
Killer whales The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white pa ...
are also known predators.Philo, L. M., E. B. Shotts, and J. C. George (1993). "Morbidity and Mortality." In Burns et al. There is no consensus on the number of deaths by killer whales. Bowheads seek the ice and shallow waters' safety when threatened by killer whales. The Inuit have a word for this behavior to give historical context that this is not a new phenomenon. Global warming is increasing the frequency that killer whales are observed in the far north. A once-rare event, killer whales are now seen more frequently. There are no reports of attacks on bowheads by sharks.


Whaling

The bowhead whale has been hunted for
blubber Blubber is a thick layer of vascularized adipose tissue under the skin of all cetaceans, pinnipeds, penguins, and sirenians. Description Lipid-rich, collagen fiber-laced blubber comprises the hypodermis and covers the whole body, except for pa ...
, meat,
oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
, bones, and baleen. Like the right whale, it swims slowly, and floats after death, making it ideal for whaling. Before commercial whaling, they were estimated to number 50,000.Woodby, D. A. and D. B. Botkin (1993). "Stock Sizes Prior to Commercial Whaling". In Burns et al. Commercial bowhead whaling began in the 16th century when the Basques killed them as they migrated south through the
Strait of Belle Isle The Strait of Belle Isle (; french: Détroit de Belle Isle ) is a waterway in eastern Canada that separates the Labrador Peninsula from the island of Newfoundland, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Location The strait is the northern o ...
in the fall and early winter. In 1611, the first whaling expedition sailed to
Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...
. The whaling settlement
Smeerenburg Smeerenburg was a whaling settlement on Amsterdam Island in northwest Svalbard. It was founded by the Danish and Dutch in 1619 as one of Europe's northernmost outposts. With the local bowhead whale population soon decimated and whaling devel ...
was founded on Spitsbergen in 1619. By midcentury, the population(s) there had practically been wiped out, forcing whalers to voyage into the "West Ice"—the pack ice off
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
's east coast. By 1719, they had reached the
Davis Strait Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer Jo ...
, and by the first quarter of the 19th century,
Baffin Bay Baffin Bay ( Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arct ...
.Ross, W. G. (1993). "Commercial Whaling in the North Atlantic Sector". In Burns et al. In the North Pacific, the first bowheads were taken off the eastern coast of Kamchatka by the Danish whaleship ''Neptun'', Captain Thomas Sodring, in 1845.Bockstoce, J. R., and J. J. Burns (1993). "Commercial Whaling in the North Pacific Sector". In Burns et al. In 1847, the first bowheads were caught in the Sea of Okhotsk, and the following year, Captain
Thomas Welcome Roys Thomas Welcome Roys (c. 1816 - d. 1877) was an American whaleman. He was significant in the history of whaling in that he discovered the Western Arctic bowhead whale population and developed and patented whaling rockets in order to hunt the faste ...
, in the bark ''Superior'', of
Sag Harbor Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the 2 ...
, caught the first bowheads in the Bering Strait region. By 1849, 50 ships were hunting bowheads in each area; in the Bering Strait, 500 whales were killed that year, and that number jumped to more than 2000 in 1850. By 1852, 220 ships were cruising around the Bering Strait region, which killed over 2,600 whales. Between 1854 and 1857, the fleet shifted to the Sea of Okhotsk, where 100–160 ships cruised annually. During 1858–1860, the ships shifted back to the Bering Strait region, where the majority of the fleet cruised during the summer until the early 20th century. An estimated 18,600 bowheads were killed in the Bering Strait region between 1848 and 1914, with 60% of the total being reached within the first two decades. An estimated 18,000 bowheads were killed in the Sea of Okhotsk during 1847–1867, 80% in the first decade.Vaughan, R. (1984). "Historical survey of the European whaling industry". In ''Arctic Whaling: Proceedings of the International Symposium'', pp. 121–145. University of Groningen. Bowheads were first taken along the pack ice in the northeastern Sea of Okhotsk, then in Tausk Bay and Northeast Gulf (
Shelikhov Gulf Shelikhov Gulf (russian: залив Шелихова) is a large gulf off the northwestern coast of Kamchatka, Russia. The gulf is named after Russian explorer Grigory Shelikhov. It is located in the northeastern corner of the Sea of Okhotsk and i ...
). Soon, ships expanded to the west, catching them around
Iony Island Iony Island (russian: Остров Ионы), or Jonas' Island, formerly Ostrov Svyatogo Iony ( Saint Jonas' Island), is a small island in the Sea of Okhotsk. Geography Iony Island is the only island in the Sea of Okhotsk that is located in the ...
and then around the
Shantar Islands The Shantar Islands (russian: Шантарские острова, translit=Shantarskiye ostrova) are a group of fifteen islands located off the northwestern shore of the Sea of Okhotsk east of Uda Gulf and north of Academy Bay. Most of the isla ...
. In the Western Arctic, they mainly caught them in the
Anadyr Gulf The Gulf of Anadyr, or Anadyr Bay (russian: Анадырский залив), is a large bay on the Bering Sea in far northeast Siberia. It has a total surface area of Location The bay is roughly rectangular and opens to the southeast. The corn ...
, the Bering Strait, and around
St. Lawrence Island St. Lawrence Island ( ess, Sivuqaq, russian: Остров Святого Лаврентия, Ostrov Svyatogo Lavrentiya) is located west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea, just south of the Bering Strait. The village of Gambell, located on t ...
. They later spread to the western
Beaufort Sea The Beaufort Sea (; french: Mer de Beaufort, Iñupiaq: ''Taġiuq'') is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, and west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after Sir Fr ...
(1854) and the Mackenzie River delta (1889). Commercial whaling, the principal cause of the population decline, is over. Bowhead whales are now hunted on a
subsistence A subsistence economy is an economy directed to basic subsistence (the provision of food, clothing, shelter) rather than to the market. Henceforth, "subsistence" is understood as supporting oneself at a minimum level. Often, the subsistence econo ...
level by
native peoples of North America The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Ame ...
.


Alaskan subsistence

Some
Alaska Natives Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numbe ...
continue by tradition to hunt bowhead and beluga whales on a
subsistence A subsistence economy is an economy directed to basic subsistence (the provision of food, clothing, shelter) rather than to the market. Henceforth, "subsistence" is understood as supporting oneself at a minimum level. Often, the subsistence econo ...
level, with low annual bowhead total quotas set by the
International Whaling Commission The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation of ...
in conjunction with individual village limits set by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission. Bowhead hunting is limited to whaling crews who are: *
Iñupiat The Iñupiat (or Inupiat, Iñupiaq or Inupiaq;) are a group of Alaska Natives, whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States border. Their current ...
* St Lawrence Island Siberian Yupik This bowhead subsistence hunting occurs during the northward spring migrations based from the ice and from small boats during the returning fall migrations.


Conservation

The bowhead is listed in Appendix I by
CITES CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
. While the global population is thought to be secure, thus assigned "least concern" status, some populations are listed by the
National Marine Fisheries Service The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), informally known as NOAA Fisheries, is a United States federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that is responsible for the stew ...
as "endangered" under the auspices of the United States'
Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...
. The
IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...
data are: *
Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...
population – critically endangered *
Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...
subpopulation – endangered *
Baffin Bay Baffin Bay ( Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arct ...
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Davis Strait Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer Jo ...
stock – endangered *
Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...
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Foxe Basin Foxe Basin is a shallow oceanic basin north of Hudson Bay, in Nunavut, Canada, located between Baffin Island and the Melville Peninsula. For most of the year, it is blocked by sea ice (fast ice) and drift ice made up of multiple ice floes. Th ...
stock – vulnerable (estimated to be 1,026 individuals in 2005 by DFO) * Bering- Chukchi-
Beaufort Beaufort may refer to: People and titles * Beaufort (surname) * House of Beaufort, English nobility * Duke of Beaufort (England), a title in the peerage of England * Duke of Beaufort (France), a title in the French nobility Places Polar regions ...
stock – lower risk – conservation dependent The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the USA government list the bowhead whale as federally endangered. The bowhead whale is listed in Appendix IAppendix I
of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). As amended by the Conference of the Parties in 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2008. Effective: 5 March 2009.
of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (
CMS CMS may refer to: Computing * Call management system * CMS-2 (programming language), used by the United States Navy * Code Morphing Software, a technology used by Transmeta * Collection management system for a museum collection * Color manag ...
), as this species has been categorized as being in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant proportion of its range. CMS Parties strive towards strictly protecting these animals, conserving or restoring the places where they live, mitigating obstacles to migration, and controlling other factors that might endanger them.


Gallery

File:Bowhead whales swimming in Lingolm strait by Vladislav Raevskii.JPG, Whales swimming in the Lindholm Strait of the
Shantar Islands The Shantar Islands (russian: Шантарские острова, translit=Shantarskiye ostrova) are a group of fifteen islands located off the northwestern shore of the Sea of Okhotsk east of Uda Gulf and north of Academy Bay. Most of the isla ...
, in the northwestern Sea of OkhotskVladislav Raevskii
Retrieved 1 June 2014
File:Bowhead whales cavorting in the coastal water of north western Sea of Okhotsk by Olga Shpak, Marine Mammal Council, IEE RAS.jpg, Cavorting whale in northwestern part of Sea of Okhotsk File:Grönlandwal 1-1999.jpg, Blowholes File:Grönlandwal 2-1999.jpg, Resting in
Foxe Basin Foxe Basin is a shallow oceanic basin north of Hudson Bay, in Nunavut, Canada, located between Baffin Island and the Melville Peninsula. For most of the year, it is blocked by sea ice (fast ice) and drift ice made up of multiple ice floes. Th ...
File:Grönlandwal 3-1999.jpg, Fluke up before diving File:Grönlandwal 4-1999.jpg, Whale showing one of pectoral fins File:Grönlandwal 5-1999.jpg, Tip of whitish chin visible File:Map of the range of the bowhead whale centred over the north pole.gif, Map of the bowhead whale ranges centered over the
North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...


See also

*
List of cetaceans Cetacea is an infraorder that comprises the 94 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises. It is divided into toothed whales (Odontoceti) and baleen whales (Mysticeti), which diverged from each other in the Eocene some 50 mya (unit), million years ...


References


Cited sources

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External links

* * * * * * A documentary by
Bill Mason Bill Mason was a Canadian naturalist, author, artist, filmmaker, and conservationist, noted primarily for his popular canoeing books, films, and art as well as his documentaries on wolves. Mason was also known for including passages from Christ ...
from 1974 following an expedition that searches out and meets the bowhead and
beluga The beluga whale (/bɪˈluːɡə/) (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the wh ...
. * {{Taxonbar, from=Q174652 Alaska Native culture Mammals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Cetaceans of the Arctic Ocean Balaenidae Greenlandic cuisine ESA endangered species Symbols of Alaska Holarctic fauna