Today, the bowhead whale occupies a monotypic genus, separate from the right whales, as proposed by the work of John Edward Gray in 1821.

It was seemingly identical to its relatives in the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Southern Oceans, and as such they were all thought to be a single species, collectively known as the 'right whale', and given the binomial name Balaena mysticetus. Ĭarl Linnaeus named this species in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae (1758). The global population is assessed as of least concern. Of the five stocks of bowhead populations, three are listed as ' endangered', one as ' vulnerable', and one as 'lower risk, conservation dependent' according to the IUCN Red List. Their population was severely reduced before a 1966 moratorium was passed to protect the species. American whalemen called them the steeple-top, polar whale, or Russia or Russian whale.īowheads have the largest mouth of any animal representing almost one-third of the length of the body, the longest baleen plates with a maximum length of 4 metres (13 feet) and may be the longest-lived mammals, with the ability to reach an age of more than 200 years.

Other common names of the species are the Greenland right whale or Arctic whale. They are the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and subarctic waters, and are named after their characteristic massive triangular skull, which they use to break through Arctic ice. The bowhead whale ( Balaena mysticetus) is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and the only living representative of the genus Balaena.

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