Northern Right Whale
Eubalaena glacialis
- Diet
- Eats plankton
- Mass
- 50,000 kg
- IUCN status
- Critically endangered (CR)
In short
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. As of 2026, there are an estimated 380 individuals, including 70 breeding females. 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 most—scientists believe that they may become functionally extinct in the next two decades. 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.
Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA licence).
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The North Atlantic right whale is a baleen whale, one of three right whale species belonging to the genus Eubalaena, all of which…