BCD2018

a medium-size toothed whale,

The beluga's body is thick, muscular, and tapered at both ends, with a small head and a narrow caudal peduncle (tail stock). Its head is rounded, and it has a short beak and a prominent, protruding forehead called the "melon". The beluga's neck is narrower than the necks of other whales, and it also differs from most whales — whose neck vertebrae are fused — in that its 7 neck vertebrae are free, which allows it to nod and turn its head.

Adult belugas are almost completely white. Calves are dark gray ; they become lighter in color with age and at full maturity they become white, though they retain some dark color on the edge of the flippers and flukes.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION The blue whale is the largest animal that ever lived on Earth. It is also the loudest animal on Earth. These enormous mammals eat tiny organisms, like plankton and krill, which they sieve through baleen. They live in pods (small groups). These gray-blue whales have 2 blowholes and a 2-14 inch (5-30 cm) thick layer of blubber. Blue whales are rorqual whales, whales that have pleated throat grooves that allow their throat to expand during the huge intake of water during filter feeding. Blue whales have 50-70 throat grooves that run from the throat to mid-body.

Blue whales grow to be about 80 feet (25 m) long on average, weighing about 120 tons (109 tonnes). The largest specimen found was a female 94 feet (29 m) long weighing more 174 tons (158 tonnes). The females are larger than males, as with all baleen whales. The largest of the blue whales (150 tons) has a heart that weighs about 1,000 pounds (450 kg) and has 14,000 pounds (6,400 kg) of blood circulating in its body. The heart is about the size of a Volkswagon bug car. A human could crawl through the aorta (a major blood vessel).

SKIN, SHAPE AND FINS The blue whale's skin is usually blue-gray with white-gray spots. The underbelly has brown, yellow, or gray specks. During the winter in cold waters, diatoms stick to the underbelly, giving it a yellow to silver- to sulfur-colored sheen; they are sometimes called "sulfur bottom." They have a very small, falcate (sickle-shaped) dorsal fin that is located near the flukes (tail). Blue whales have long, thin flippers 8 feet long (2.4 m) and flukes that are 25 feet (7.6 m) wide.

baleen whale

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Gray whales have a streamlined body, with a narrow, tapered head. The upper jaw is arched in profile, and slightly overlaps the lower jaw. The rostrum (upper jaw) is dimpled and each of the little depressions contains one stiff hair. There are 2-5 grooves on the ventral throat 5 feet (1.5 m) in length. Surface Characteristics COLOR The gray whale received its name from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. On the skin are many scratches, scattered patches of white barnacles, and orange whale lice. Newborn calves are dark gray to black, although some may have distinctive white marking

Belugas live in frigid Arctic and sub-Arctic waters, but some populations migrate south to warmer water in the summer.

The bowhead whale has a robust, dark-colored body, no dorsal fin and a strongly bowed lower jaw and narrow upper jaw. Its baleen, the longest of any whale at 3 m (9.8 ft), strains tiny prey from the water. The whale has a massive bony skull which it uses to break through the Arctic ice to breathe. Inuit hunters have reported them surfacing through 60 cm (24 in) of ice. The bowhead whale has paired blowholes that spout a blow 20 feet high. The bowhead may grow up to 14–18 m (46–59 ft) and weigh from 30,000 to 60,000 kg (66,000 to 130,000 lb) in adulthood.[12] It is of comparable size to the three species of right whale. The largest bowhead yet reported was 21.2 m (70 ft) for a giant caught off Spitsbergen, Norway. This specimen was later estimated to have weighed approximately 133 t (290,000 lb).[13] Females are larger than males. Its blubber is the thickest of any animal, averaging 43–50 cm (17–20 in). Arctic bowhead whales have lost a significant portion of their genetic diversity in the past 500 years. Hundreds of DNA samples from living whales and from baleen used in vessels, toys and housing materialFragmented sentence. Bowheads crossed ice-covered inlets and straits to exchange genes between Atlantic and Pacific populations. This conclusion derived from analyzing maternal lineage using mitochondrial DNA, most likely because of whaling and climatic cooling between the 16th and 19th centuries — known as the Little Ice Age — which reduced the whales’ summer habitat.[14] [edit] Life history

uction 3.4 Lifespan

Status: Near Threatened

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