Large Whales Without a Dorsal Fin
BOWHEAD WHALE (B)
Balaena mysticetus Linnaeus 1758
Other Common Names
Greenland whale, Arctic right whale, great polar whale.
Description
Bowhead whales, so-called because of the high-arching jaws and the resultant contour of the head, reach a maximum length of about 65 feet (19.8 m). They are extremely robust in form.
When viewed from the side, some swimming bowhead whales show two characteristic curves to the back: the first extends from the tip of the snout to just behind the blowholes; the second, encompassing the entire back, begins just behind the head and extends all the way to the tail. This character may be present only in adult animals and may be more pronounced in males. Younger animals, particularly females, are often stubbier and somewhat barrel-shaped behind the head. In all animals the back is smooth, lacking even a trace of a dorsal fin.
The head of the bowhead whale is smooth, black, and without the bonnet and the "rock-garden," the colorful clusters of callosities characteristic of the black right whale. The blowholes are widely separated, and the blow emanating from them projects upward as two separate, distinct spouts. Though two separate columns sometimes may be visible under windless conditions in the blows of most mysticetes, this feature is exaggerated and is most characteristic in the bowhead and right whales.