Our Arctic trips stretch across the top of the world from Russia, Canada, Greenland and Iceland to Spitsbergen. Many species of whales can be found here in the summer months, although we consider sighting whales in the Arctic a bonus rather than a guarantee. Seventeen species of whales, including dolphins and porpoises, can be found in the Arctic. There are three whale species that spend their entire lives in the Arctic, moving between summer feeding and wintering areas within the region—the narwhal, beluga and bowhead whales. Others, such as the humpback and gray whale, migrate to warmer waters during the northern winter to give birth.
If you choose a Canadian Arctic trip with a routing past Isabella Bay, south of the Inuit village of Clyde River on Baffin Island, you might have an opportunity to see a bowhead whale. This area is a sanctuary for the bowheads. I have also been fortunate enough to see them in the Amundsen Gulf area on a Northwest Passage trip.
If you head north from Clyde River to Lancaster Sound, east towards Resolute and north, you may have a chance of finding beluga whales and catch a quick glimpse of narwhals. Belugas can also be found further south of Baffin Island and into Hudson Bay.
As you head down the coast of Labrador, fin and humpback whales can be sighted. The same for areas around Newfoundland—I have even seen a blue whale in these waters. This is also the area for the remnant population of North Atlantic right whales. As the population numbers less than 400 individuals, a sighting would certainly be a highlight!
Along the coast of Greenland, fin, blue, minke and humpback whales have been sighted. For Spitsbergen, the most common species to be seen are the beluga whales. Humpbacks and fin whales have been sighted with more frequency over the last few years. The offshore banks provide good habitat, but we usually travel closer to the islands in the archipelago. In 2006, a bowhead whale (known as the Greenland whale locally) was spotted near one of the docks in Longyearbyen.
The most likely whales to be seen on an Arctic trip:
Other whales that you might see:
I will describe the beluga, narwhal and bowhead below (the others are described under Antarctic whales).
Beluga whale: Delphinapterus leucas
The beluga, a medium-size toothed whale, is white—a color adaptation to its environment as it lives primarily in the Arctic. Its color is also the source of its name, which comes from the Russian word for white. Some scientists call this whale “belukha”, to differentiate it from the beluga sturgeon (the fish from which we get caviar). Thick blubber makes it possible for the beluga to live in extremely cold water, and a back with no dorsal fin allows it to move freely under ice. Belugas are relatively slow swimmers; they swim about 2-6 mph (3 to 9 kph). Belugas were known as “sea canaries” by the early explorers, because of their songs and chatter, which can even be heard above the water. Unlike other whales, they have a flexible neck that allows them to move their head up, down and to the side.
Adult males measure 14-16 feet (5 meters), with a maximum length of 20 feet (5.3 meters), and weigh about 3,300 pounds. Adult females measure 13-14 feet (3.9-4.2 meters) with a maximum length of 17 feet (5.2 meters), and weigh about 3,000 pounds. Females are considerably smaller than males on the eastern side of the Atlantic.
Because it has no dorsal (back) fin, the beluga can swim freely under floating ice. Instead of a fin it has a narrow ridge, which runs down the rear half of its back. The ridge is sometimes notched, and may be a darker color. Its flippers are short, broad and curled up at the tip in adults. The fluke is broad with a deep central notch.
Key features to identify the species: The primary distinguishing feature is its color—white. The young are grayish and become whiter with age. There is a ridge along the back, but there is no dorsal fin. They travel in pods along coastlines and can also be found in river estuaries in the spring/summer months where they gather to calve and or feed. The head is blunt, with a small beak.
Narwhal: Monodon monoceros
The narwhal is famous for the long ivory tusk which spirals counter clockwise several feet forward from its head. The tusk is actually the whale’s left tooth. Male narwhal, and some females, have two teeth. Usually only the left tooth becomes a tusk, but there are occasionally whales with double tusks.
Adult males measure 15 feet (4.6 meters) and weigh 3,500 pounds. Adult females measure 13 feet (4.0 meters) and weigh 2,000 pounds.
Like belugas, narwhals have no dorsal (back) fin, but they have an uneven ridge along the spine on the rear part of the back. The outer tip of each short flipper is curved upwards. The flukes are fan-shaped with a deep notch like the beluga.
Key features to identify the species: The most distinctive feature is the long tusk of the males. The narwhal is a chunky, stocky whale with a small rounded head. From a distance, the only other whale that you might confuse it with is the beluga whale, which is all white in the adult. Narwhals are counter shaded—they are dark on top and light on the bottom. Newborn calves are dark blue-gray, and as they grow the back turns olive brown and develops the leopard spotting pattern common in adults.
Bowhead whale: Balaena mysticetus
The bowhead whale, formerly known by Yankee whalers as the Greenland right whale, is a taxonomic relative of the right whale. It received its name from the high, arched upper jaw that somewhat resembles the shape of an archer’s bow. Bowheads live at the southern edges of the Arctic ice during winter and move into leads through broken and melting ice during summers. Bowhead whales have been an important subsistence item for Arctic native hunters for centuries. The blubber (muktuk in Alaskan Inuit), muscle, and certain internal organs provide valuable energy-rich food; the baleen is used to make implements, baskets (from the hairy fringes) and works of art; and the bone is used for housing construction, tool handles, etc.
The baleen plates, that they use to filter their food, are the longest baleen of any whale, measuring up to 14 feet (4.3 meters) in length and 12 inches (30 cm) in width. While feeding, a bowhead whale skims through the water with its mouth open. As water flows into the mouth and through the baleen, prey is trapped on the inside near the tongue to be swallowed.
Adult males reach physical maturity at 50 feet (15 meters) and may weigh in excess of 60 tons (54,431 kg). Sexual maturity is reached at 38 feet (11.6 meters). Adult females are slightly larger than males at both physical and sexual maturity. Maximum length exceeds 60 feet (18.3 m).
Key features to identify the species: Like the beluga and the narwhal, the bowhead has no dorsal fin. It is the only baleen whale without a dorsal fin, because it lives in association with the ice. The deeply-notched flukes of a mature bowhead whale can measure 25 feet (7.6 meters) from tip to tip and can be used to identify them as well. Its head is immense making up nearly one-third of the bowhead’s total body length. The mouth can be as long as 16 feet (4.9 meters) in length, 12 feet (3.7 meters) high, and 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide and its tongue weighs about 1 ton (907 kg). In profile, a bowhead whale’s head is triangular in shape, which may be an adaptation that enables the whale to break through the ice to breathe. Bowhead whales have a high bridge (termed the “stack”) on which sit the nostrils—with this are able to smash through ice that is 1-2 feet thick to breathe, presumably as they visually follow the long cracks and valleys we now know mark the bottom of the ice. There are two blowholes located at the highest point of the head that send two bushy, V-shaped blows 13 feet (4 meters) in the air. While swimming, only the bowhead whale’s triangular head and rounded back show above the surface of the water.
Written by Dennis Mense, Sales Director/Expedition Leader for Travelwild Expeditions
Special thanks to Uko Gorter for all illustrations (www.ukogorter.com)—provided courtesy of American Cetacean Society (www.acsonline.org).