Right whale may refer to:
Baleen whale taxa:
- the taxonomic family Balaenidae which consists of two genera Eubalaena and the Balaena (Bowhead whale)
- the genus Eubalaena or any of the three species currently recognized in that genus:
- North Atlantic right whale (E. glacialis)
- North Pacific right whale (E. japonica)
- Southern right whale (E. australis)
The southern right whale is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus Eubalaena.
- Pygmy Right Whale (Caperea marginata) currently classified in its own family Neobalaenidae.
Balaenidae is a family of whales of the parvorder Mysticeti that contains two living genera: the right whales, and in a separate genus, the closely related bowhead whale.
The North Atlantic right whale is a baleen whale, one of three right whale species belonging to the genus Eubalaena, all of which were formerly classified as a single species. Because of their docile nature, their slow surface-skimming feeding behaviors, their tendencies to stay close to the coast, and their high blubber content, right whales were once a preferred target for whalers. At present, they are among the most endangered whales in the world, and they are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act and Canada's Species at Risk Act. There are about 400 individuals in existence in the western North Atlantic Ocean—they migrate between feeding grounds in the Labrador Sea and their winter calving areas off Georgia and Florida, an ocean area with heavy shipping traffic. In the eastern North Atlantic, on the other hand—with a total population reaching into the low teens at best—scientists believe that they may already be functionally extinct. Vessel strikes and entanglement in fixed fishing gear, which together account for nearly half of all North Atlantic right whale mortality since 1970, are their two greatest threats to recovery.
The North Pacific right whale is a very large, thickset baleen whale species that is extremely rare and endangered.
Other:
- Right Whale Bay, South Georgia
- Right whale dolphin - two species of dolphin in the genus Lissodelphis
Right Whale Bay is a bay 1.5 miles wide, entered between Craigie Point and Nameless Point along the north coast of South Georgia. The name dates back to at least 1922 and is now well established. The right whale is a species of whale found in this area – South Georgia was famous for its whaling. It is linked to Morsa Bay by Ernesto Pass.
Right whale dolphins are cetaceans belonging to the genus Lissodelphis. It contains the northern right whale dolphin and the southern right whale dolphin. These cetaceans are predominantly black, white beneath, and some of the few without a dorsal fin or ridge. They are smaller members of the delphinid family, oceanic dolphins, and very slender. Despite scientists being long acquainted with the species, little is known about them in terms of life history and behaviour.
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