Species fact sheet by Global Register of Migratory Species - www.groms.de
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Eubalaena glacialis (Müller, 1776)
Synonym: Balaena glacialis glacialis
Family: Balaenidae
Order: Cetacea
English: Northern right whale
French: Baleine de Biscaye
Spanish: Ballena franca
German: Nordkaper (There's a German version of this page!)
Norwegian: Nordkaper (There's a Norwegian version of this page!)
Migration: interoceanic
Regions: Caribbean Islands, East Asia, Europe, Mesoamerica, North Africa, North America, North Asia

distributionmap of Eubalaena glacialis 


“The right whale is a slow animal which frequents coastal and shelf habitats, feeding in high latitudes during summer, and calving in warmer waters in winter. By 1900 the northern right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) was considered rare due to extensive hunting. At present, its eastern North Atlantic stock appears to be essentially extinct, and the western North Atlantic stock consists of no more than 295 individuals, accurately estimated by photo-identification (Clapham et al. 1999). Recent analysis by Caswell et al. (1999) suggests that the population is in decline, in spite of strict protection. No reliable data are available for the North Pacific. The species is probably the most threatened of all baleen whales (Clapham et al. 1999). The closely related southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) have a circumpolar distribution on the southern hemisphere. They spend part of the year in inshore waters or near offshore islands. The species was exploited extensively for whale oil and baleen: around 60,000 individuals were killed by American whalers alone in the 1800s. Today, all four populations of Eubalaena australis are monitored closely, and all show annual increase rates of 6-14% (Clapham et al. 1999).”
From: Riede, K. (2001): Global Register of Migratory Species. Weltregister wandernder Tierarten. Münster (Landwirtschaftsverlag), p. 201, containing more about whales and dolphins (l.c., pp 64-68)

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(Last update: 27.6.2007 by A. Tappenhölter)