🐾Bowhead whale
La ballena de Groenlandia, también conocida como ballena boreal o ballena cabeza de arco (Balaena mysticetus), es una especie de cetáceo misticeto de la familia Balaenidae. Es la única especie viviente de su género. Posee un cuerpo robusto, sin la presencia de aleta dorsal (características propias de la familia). Puede crecer hasta 18 metros de longitud, con un peso máximo de 100 toneladas. Habita en las aguas árticas y subárticas, a diferencia de otras ballenas que migran para alimentarse o reproducirse. Posee una enorme boca con multitud de barbas (hasta 600 o más que pueden medir unos 3 m de largo cada una). A consecuencia de la caza de ballenas, su población fue severamente reducida antes de la moratoria de 1966. La población actual está estimada en más de 24.900 ballenas, frente a las 50.000 estimadas antes de la caza industrial.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2018.
- Body mass
- 80,000 kg
- Body length
- 14 m
- Shoulder height
- not recorded
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 211 years
Everything we know about the Bowhead whale
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass80,000 kgrecord 100,000 kg · SeaLifeBaseCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Record: largest individual on record
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 100,000 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length14 mCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
By sex
- Female20 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Figures vary
- 18 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Maximum lifespan211 yearsCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 211 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length52 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Age at maturity17 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Gestation1.0 yearsCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 1.1 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size1COMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic levelCarnivoreCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Activity cycleCrepuscular / mixedCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Volume l80,000 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Bowhead whale yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classMammalia
- ›orderCetacea
- ›familyBalaenidae
- ›genusBalaena
- ›speciesBalaena mysticetus
- classMammals · Mammalia
- orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
- infraorderWhales & dolphins · Cetacea
- genusBalaena
All 15 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- classMammals · Mammalia
- subclassTheria
- superorderLaurasiatheria
- orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
- suborderWhippomorpha
- infraorderWhales & dolphins · Cetacea
- familyBalaenidae
- genusBalaena
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