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79-792: The Bering Sea is separated from the Gulf of Alaska by the Alaska Peninsula . It covers over 2,000,000 square kilometers (770,000 sq mi) and is bordered on the east and northeast by Alaska , on the west by the Russian Far East and the Kamchatka Peninsula , on the south by the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands and on the far north by the Bering Strait , which connects

158-404: A South American deposit dating back 23 million years. An unknown species of right whale, the so-called "Swedenborg whale", which was proposed by Emanuel Swedenborg in the 18th century, was once thought to be a North Atlantic right whale. Based on later DNA analysis, those fossil bones claimed to be from Swedenborg whales were confirmed to be from bowhead whales. The bowhead whale has

237-471: A large, robust, dark-coloured body and a white chin. It has a massive triangular skull , which it uses to break through the Arctic ice to breathe. Inuit hunters have reported bowheads surfacing through 60 cm (24 in) of ice. It also possesses a strongly bowed lower jaw and a narrow upper jaw. Its baleen is the longest of that of any whale, at 3 m (9.8 ft), and is used to strain tiny prey from

316-1034: A large, upturning lip on the lower jaw that helps to reinforce and hold the baleen plates within the mouth. This also prevents buckling or breakage of the plates from the pressure of the water passing through them as the whale advances. To feed, water is filtered through the fine hairs of keratin of the baleen plates, trapping the prey inside near the tongue where it is then swallowed. The diet consists of mostly zooplankton , which includes krill , copepods , mysids , amphipods , and many other crustaceans . About 1.8 t (2 short tons) of food are consumed each day. While foraging, bowheads are solitary or occur in groups of two to 10 or more. Bowhead whales are highly vocal and use low frequency (<1000 Hz) sounds to communicate while travelling, feeding, and socialising. Intense calls for communication and navigation are produced especially during migration season. During breeding season, bowheads make long, complex, variable songs for mating calls. Many tens of distinct songs are sung by

395-482: A new estimate of 14,400 animals (range 4,800–43,000). These larger numbers correspond to prewhaling estimates, indicating the population has fully recovered. However, if climate change substantially shrinks sea ice, these whales could be threatened by increased shipping traffic. The status of other populations is less well known. About 1,200 were off West Greenland in 2006, while the Svalbard population may only number in

474-648: A pod of beluga whales in the Bering Sea. One of the central characters in the 1949 film Down to the Sea in Ships has the given name "Bering" due to having been born in a ship crossing the Bering Sea. The 2002 supernatural thriller, Ghost Ship , directed by Steve Beck , follows a marine salvage crew in the Bering Sea who discover the lost Italian ocean liner, Antonia Graza that disappeared in 1962. Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska ( Tlingit :  Yéil T'ooch’ )

553-479: A population in a single season. From 2010 through to 2014, near Greenland , 184 distinct songs were recorded from a population of around 300 animals. Sexual activity occurs between pairs and in boisterous groups of several males and one or two females. Breeding season is observed from March through August; conception is believed to occur primarily in March when song activity is at its highest. Reproduction can begin when

632-404: A single dive is usually limited to 9–18 minutes. The bowhead is not thought to be a deep diver, but can reach a depth down to 150 m (500 ft). It is a slow swimmer, normally travelling around 2–5 km/h (0.56–1.39 m/s; 1.2–3.1 mph). When fleeing from danger, it can travel at a speed of 10 km/h (2.8 m/s; 6.2 mph). During periods of feeding, the average swim speed

711-400: A single species, collectively known as the "right whale", and given the binomial name Balaena mysticetus . Today, the bowhead whale occupies a monotypic genus , separate from the right whales , as proposed by the work of John Edward Gray in 1821. For the next 180 years, the family Balaenidae was the subject of great taxonometric debate. Authorities have repeatedly recategorized

790-473: A vigorous and productive ecosystem. Most scientists think that during the most recent ice age , sea level was low enough to allow humans to migrate east on foot from Asia to North America across what is now the Bering Strait. Other animals including megafauna migrated in both directions. This is commonly referred to as the " Bering land bridge " and is accepted by most, though not all scientists, to be

869-459: A well-defined area of 3,700 km (1,100  sq nmi ) north of Igloolik Island to Fury and Hecla Strait and Kapuiviit and Gifford Fiord , and into Gulf of Boothia and Prince Regent Inlet . Northward migrating along western Foxe Basin to eastern side of the basin also occurs in spring. Not much is known about the endangered Sea of Okhotsk population. To learn more about the population, these mammals have been regularly observed near

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948-504: A whale is 10 to 15 years old. The gestation period is 13–14 months with females producing a calf once every three to four years. Lactation typically lasts about a year. To survive in the cold water immediately after birth, calves are born with a thick layer of blubber . Within 30 minutes of birth, bowhead calves are able to swim on their own. A newborn calf is typically 4–4.5 m (13–15 ft) long, weighs roughly 1,000 kg (2,200 lb), and grows to 8.2 m (27 ft) within

1027-448: Is 268 years based on genetic analysis. A greater number of cells present in an organism was once believed to result in greater chances of mutations that cause age-related diseases and cancer . Although the bowhead whale has thousands of times more cells than other mammals, it has a much higher resistance to cancer and aging. In 2015, scientists from the US and UK were able to successfully map

1106-510: Is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and is the only living representative of the genus Balaena . It is the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and subarctic waters, and is named after its characteristic massive triangular skull, which it uses to break through Arctic ice. Other common names of the species included the Greenland right whale , Arctic whale , steeple-top , and polar whale . Bowheads have

1185-677: Is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska , stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, where Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage are found. The Gulf shoreline is a combination of forest, mountain and a number of tidewater glaciers . Alaska's largest glaciers, the Malaspina Glacier and Bering Glacier , spill out onto

1264-503: Is an important habitat for whales that were observed to be relatively active and to interact with humans positively, or to rest on sea floors. These whales belong to Davis Strait stock. Isabella Bay in Niginganiq National Wildlife Area is the first wildlife sanctuary in the world to be designed specially for bowhead whales. However, moultings have not been recorded in this area due to environmental factors. In 1978

1343-482: Is considered a Class I, productive ecosystem with more than 300 grams of carbon per square meter per year based on SeaWiFS data. Deep water corals can be found in the Gulf of Alaska. Primnoa pacifica has contributed to the location being labeled as Habitat Areas of Particular Concern. P. pacifica is a deep water coral typically found between 150 metres (490 ft) and 900 metres (3,000 ft) here. Thanks to

1422-399: Is extinct due to overhunting and the introduction of rats to their breeding islands. The Bering Sea supports many species of fish, some of which support large and valuable commercial fisheries. Commercial fish species include Pacific cod , several species of flatfish , sablefish , Pacific salmon , and Pacific herring . Shellfish include red king crab and snow crab . Fish biodiversity

1501-413: Is high, and at least 419 species of fish have been reported from the Bering Sea. The Bering Sea is world-renowned for its productive and profitable fisheries, such as king crab , opilio and tanner crabs, Bristol Bay salmon, pollock and other groundfish. These fisheries rely on the productivity of the Bering Sea via a complicated and little understood food web. Commercial fishing is lucrative business in

1580-406: Is increased to 1.1–2.5 m/s (4.0–9.0 km/h; 2.5–5.6 mph). The head of the bowhead whale comprises a third of its body length, creating an enormous feeding apparatus. The bowhead whale is a filter feeder , and feeds by swimming forward with its mouth wide open. It has hundreds of overlapping baleen plates consisting of keratin hanging from each side of the upper jaw. The mouth has

1659-480: Is mostly restricted to the northwestern part along with Wager Bay , Repulse Bay , Southampton Island (one of two main known summering areas), Frozen Strait , northern Foxe Basin, and north of Igloolik in summer. Satellite tracking indicates that some portions of the group within the bay do not venture further south than Whale Cove and areas south of Coats and Mansel Islands . Cow – calf pairs and juveniles up to 13.5 m (44 ft) in length make up

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1738-472: Is much smaller than the total population size of this group, but reports from local indigenous people indicate that this population is increasing over decades. Larger portions of the bay are used for summering, while wintering is on a smaller scale. Some animals winter in Hudson Strait , most notably north of Igloolik Island and north eastern Hudson Bay. Distribution patterns in these regions are affected by

1817-570: Is possibly functioning as the most important habitat for this population. It is unclear whether this population is a remnant of the historic Svalbard group, recolonized individuals from other stocks, or if a mixing of these two or more stocks has taken place. In 2015, discoveries of the refuge along eastern Greenland where whaling ships could not reach due to ice floes and largest numbers of whales (80–100 individuals) ever sighted between Spitsbergen and Greenland indicate that more whales than previously considered survived whaling periods, and flows from

1896-465: Is very important to the seabirds of the world. Over 30 species of seabirds and approximately 20 million individuals breed in the Bering Sea region. Seabird species include tufted puffins , the endangered short-tailed albatross , spectacled eider , and red-legged kittiwakes . Many of these species are unique to the area, which provides highly productive foraging habitat, particularly along the shelf edge and in other nutrient-rich upwelling regions, such as

1975-726: The Davis Strait , and by the first quarter of the 19th century, Baffin Bay . In the North Pacific, the first bowheads were taken off the eastern coast of Kamchatka by the Danish whaleship Neptun , Captain Thomas Sodring, in 1845. In 1847, the first bowheads were caught in the Sea of Okhotsk, and the following year, Captain Thomas Welcome Roys , in the bark Superior , of Sag Harbor , caught

2054-522: The Discovery Channel television program Deadliest Catch . Landings from Alaskan waters represents half the U.S. catch of fish and shellfish. Because of the changes going on in the Arctic, the future evolution of the Bering Sea climate and ecosystem is uncertain. Between 1979 and 2012, the region experienced small growth in sea ice extent, standing in contrast to the substantial loss of summer sea ice in

2133-598: The International Whaling Commission (IWC) introduced a hunting strike quota for the Bering - Chukchi - Beaufort Sea (BCB) bowhead. The quota has remained at 67 strikes per year since 1998 and represents about 0.5 percent of BCB population. The population of bowheads in West Greenland and Canada is estimated to be 6,000 and rising, and hunts in this are minimal (<0.001 percent). Both stocks are rising, and

2212-562: The North Aleutians Basin is also known as the "Greenbelt". Nutrient upwelling from the cold waters of the Aleutian basin flowing up the slope and mixing with shallower waters of the shelf provide for constant production of phytoplankton . The second driver of productivity in the Bering Sea is seasonal sea ice that, in part, triggers the spring phytoplankton bloom. Seasonal melting of sea ice causes an influx of lower salinity water into

2291-502: The North Pacific Current , which is in turn fed by the warm Kuroshio Current , the Gulf of Alaska remains ice-free throughout the year. In 1977, the Gulf of Alaska started to manifest an unexpected and at that time inexplicable shift on its normal climate regime, resulting in a growth of the mean temperature of the sea surface and in an increased availability and variety of commercial fish species. A similar volatile climate change

2370-483: The Shantar Islands , very close to the shore, such as at Ongachan Bay . Several companies provide whale-watching services, which are mostly land-based. According to Russian scientists, this total population likely does not exceed 400 animals. Scientific research on this population was seldom done before 2009, when researchers studying belugas noticed concentrations of bowheads in the study area. Thus, bowheads in

2449-564: The White Sea region, where few or no animals currently migrate, such as the Kola and Kanin Peninsula . Today, the number of sightings elsewhere is very small, but with increasing regularities with whales having strong regional connections. Whales have also started approaching townships and inhabited areas such as around Longyearbyen . The waters around the marine mammal sanctuary of Franz Josef Land

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2528-680: The 2000s finally provided clear evidence that the three living right whale species comprise a phylogenetic lineage, distinct from the bowhead, and that the bowhead and the right whales are rightly classified into two separate genera. The right whales were thus confirmed to be in a separate genus, Eubalaena . The relationship is shown in the cladogram below:   E. glacialis   (North Atlantic right whale)   E. japonica   (North Pacific right whale)   E. australis   (Southern right whale)   B. mysticetus   (bowhead whale) The earlier fossil record shows no related cetacean after Morenocetus , found in

2607-459: The Arctic Ocean to the north. 'The White Seal', one of many chapters on Rudyard Kipling 's The Jungle Book , features the Bering Sea as the birthplace and homeland of Kotick, a rare white fur seal . The film Harbinger Down , which was released on August 7, 2015, was about a group of grad students who booked passage on the crabbing boat Harbinger to study the effects of global warming on

2686-531: The Basques killed them as they migrated south through the Strait of Belle Isle in the fall and early winter. In 1611, the first whaling expedition sailed to Spitsbergen . The whaling settlement Smeerenburg was founded on Spitsbergen in 1619. By midcentury, the population(s) there had practically been wiped out, forcing whalers to voyage into the "West Ice"—the pack ice off Greenland 's east coast. By 1719, they had reached

2765-550: The Bering Sea to the Arctic Ocean 's Chukchi Sea . Bristol Bay is the portion of the Bering Sea between the Alaska Peninsula and Cape Newenham on mainland Southwest Alaska . The Bering Sea ecosystem includes resources within the jurisdiction of the United States and Russia , as well as international waters in the middle of the sea (known as the "Donut Hole"). The interaction between currents, sea ice, and weather makes for

2844-481: The Bering Sea, which is relied upon by the largest seafood companies in the world to produce fish and shellfish. On the U.S. side, commercial fisheries catch approximately $ 1 billion worth of seafood annually, while Russian Bering Sea fisheries are worth approximately $ 600 million annually. The Bering Sea also serves as the central location of the Alaskan king crab and snow crab seasons, which are chronicled on

2923-669: The Pleistocene were far more southerly as fossils have been excavated from Italy and North Carolina , thus could have overlapped between those of Eubalaena based on those locations. Generally, five stocks of bowhead whales are recognized: 1) the Western Arctic stock in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas, 2) the Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin stock, 3) the Baffin Bay and Davis Strait stock, 4)

3002-593: The Pribilof, Zhemchug , and Pervenets canyons. The Bering Sea is also home to colonies of crested auklets , with upwards of a million individuals. Two Bering Sea species, the Steller's sea cow ( Hydrodamalis gigas ) and spectacled cormorant ( Phalacrocorax perspicillatus ), are extinct because of overexploitation by man. In addition, a small subspecies of Canada goose, the Bering Canada goose ( Branta canadensis asiatica )

3081-554: The Sea of Okhotsk stock, and 5) the Svalbard-Barents Sea stock. However, recent evidence suggests that the Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin stock and the Baffin Bay and Davis Strait stock should be considered one stock based on genetics and movements of tagged whales. The Western Arctic bowhead population, also known as the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort population, has recovered since the commercial harvest of this stock ceased in

3160-628: The Sea of Okhotsk were once called "forgotten whales" by researchers. The WWF welcomed the creation of a nature sanctuary in the region Possibly, vagrants from this population occasionally reach into Asian nations such as off Japan or the Korean Peninsula (although this record might be of a right whale ). The first documented report of the species in Japanese waters was of a strayed infant (7 m (23 ft)) caught in Osaka Bay on 23 June 1969, and

3239-488: The Western Arctic bowhead stock may be near its precommercial whaling level. Migration patterns of this population are being affected by climate change . Alaskan Natives continue to hunt small numbers of bowhead whales for subsistence purposes. The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission co-manages the bowhead subsistence harvest with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Alaskan villages that participate in

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3318-434: The bowhead subsistence harvest include Barrow, Point Hope, Point Lay, Wainwright, Nuiqsut, Kaktovik, Gambell, Savoonga, Kivalina, Wales, and Little Diomede. The annual subsistence harvest of the Western Arctic stock has ranged from 14 to 72, amounting to an estimated 0.1-0.5% of the population. In March 2008, Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans stated the previous estimates in the eastern Arctic had undercounted, with

3397-541: The bowhead whale has a vestigial pelvis that is not connected to the spine. Bowhead whales are comparable in size to the three species of right whales . According to whaling captain William Scoresby Jr., the longest bowhead he measured was 17.7 m (58 ft) long, while the longest measurement he had ever heard of was of a 20.4 m (67 ft) whale caught at Godhavn , Greenland, in early 1813. He also spoke of one, caught near Spitsbergen around 1800, that

3476-417: The coastal line along the Gulf of Alaska. The coast is heavily indented with Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound , the two largest connected bodies of water. It includes Yakutat Bay and Cross Sound . Lituya Bay (a fjord north of Cross Sound, and south of Mount Fairweather ) is the site of the largest recorded tsunami in history. It serves as a sheltered anchorage for fishing boats. The Gulf of Alaska

3555-419: The corpus cavernosum maxillaris, extends along the centre of the hard plate, forming two large lobes at the rostral palate. The tissue is histologically similar to that of the corpus cavernosum of the mammalian penis . This organ is thought to provide a mechanism of cooling for the whale (which is normally protected from the cold Arctic waters by 40 cm (16 in) or more of fat). During physical exertion,

3634-399: The early 1900s. A 2019 study estimated that the Western Arctic population was 12,505; although it was lower than the 2011 value of 16,820, the surveyors believed there was no significant decline in 2011–2019 due to the unusual conditions of whale migration and observation in 2019. The yearly growth rate of the Western Arctic bowhead population was 3.7% from 1978 to 2011. These data suggest that

3713-428: The first bowheads in the Bering Strait region. By 1849, 50 ships were hunting bowheads in each area; in the Bering Strait, 500 whales were killed that year, and that number jumped to more than 2000 in 1850. By 1852, 220 ships were cruising around the Bering Strait region, which killed over 2,600 whales. Between 1854 and 1857, the fleet shifted to the Sea of Okhotsk, where 100–160 ships cruised annually. During 1858–1860,

3792-642: The first live sighting was of a 10 m (33 ft) juvenile around Shiretoko Peninsula (the southernmost of ice floe range in the Northern Hemisphere) on 21 to 23 June 2015. Fossils have been excavated on Hokkaido , but it is unclear whether the northern coasts of Japan were once included in seasonal or occasional migration ranges. Genetic studies suggest Okhotsk population share common ancestry with whales in Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Seas, and repeated mixings had occurred between whales in

3871-510: The first point of entry of humans into the Americas . There is a small portion of the Kula Plate in the Bering Sea. The Kula Plate is an ancient tectonic plate that used to subduct under Alaska. On 18 December 2018, a large meteor exploded above the Bering Sea. The meteor exploded at an altitude of 25.6km, releasing 49 kilotons of energy. The International Hydrographic Organization defines

3950-452: The first year. Bowhead whales are considered to be the longest-living mammals , living for over 200 years. In May 2007, a 15 m (49 ft) specimen caught off the Alaskan coast was discovered with the 89 mm (3.5 in) head of an explosive bomb lance of a model manufactured between 1879 and 1885, so the whale was probably bomb lanced sometime between those years, and its age at

4029-590: 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 . The global population is assessed as of least concern . Carl Linnaeus named this species in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae (1758). 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

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4108-416: The forming/melting of ice. Historically, bowhead whales' range may have been broader and more southerly than currently thought. Bowheads were abundant around Labrador, Newfoundland ( Strait of Belle Isle ) and the northern Gulf of St Lawrence until at least the 16th and 17th centuries. It is unclear whether this was due to the colder climate during these periods. The distribution of Balaena spp. during

4187-533: The gene UCP1 , a gene involved in thermoregulation , can explain differences in the metabolic rates in cells. The bowhead whale is the only baleen whale to spend its entire life in the Arctic and subarctic waters. The Alaskan population spends the winter months in the southwestern Bering Sea . The group migrates northward in the spring, following openings in the ice, into the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The whale's range varies depending on climate changes and on

4266-614: The indigenous hunts seem to be self-sustaining. Orca are also known predators. There is no consensus on the number of deaths by orca. Bowheads seek the ice and shallow waters' safety when threatened by orca. The Inuit have a traditional word for this behavior to give historical context that this is not a new phenomenon. Global warming is increasing the frequency that orca are observed in the far north. A once-rare event, orca are now seen more frequently. There are no reports of attacks on bowheads by sharks. The bowhead whale has been hunted for blubber , meat, oil , bones, and baleen. Like

4345-410: 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 m (13 ft), and may be the longest-lived mammals, with the ability to reach an age of more than 200 years. The bowhead was an early whaling target. Their population was severely reduced before a 1966 moratorium was passed to protect the species. Of

4424-574: The last 50 years. The implication is that the carrying capacity of the Bering Sea is much lower now than it has been in the past. The sea supports many whale species, including the beluga , humpback whale , bowhead whale , gray whale and blue whale , the vulnerable sperm whale , and the endangered fin whale , sei whale and the rarest in the world, the North Pacific right whale . Other marine mammals include walrus , Steller sea lion , northern fur seal , orca and polar bear . The Bering Sea

4503-400: The limits of the Bering Sea as follows: Islands of the Bering Sea include: Regions of the Bering Sea include: The Bering Sea contains 16 submarine canyons including the largest submarine canyon in the world, Zhemchug Canyon . The Bering Sea shelf break is the dominant driver of primary productivity in the Bering Sea. This zone, where the shallower continental shelf drops off into

4582-545: The majority of summering aggregation in the northern Foxe Basin, while matured males and noncalving females may use the northwestern part of Hudson Bay. Fewer whales also migrate to the west coast of Hudson Bay and Mansel and Ottawa Islands . Bowhead ranges within Hudson Bay are usually considered not to cover southern parts, but at least some whales migrate to locations further south such as Sanikiluaq and Churchill river mouth . Congregation within Foxe Basin occurs in

4661-422: The middle and other shelf areas, causing stratification and hydrographic effects which influence productivity. In addition to the hydrographic and productivity influence of melting sea ice, the ice itself also provides an attachment substrate for the growth of algae as well as interstitial ice algae. Some evidence suggests that great changes to the Bering Sea ecosystem have already occurred. Warm water conditions in

4740-457: The one claimed in 1850) may weigh up to 100 t (110 short tons; 98 long tons). Analysis of hundreds of DNA samples from living whales and from baleen used in vessels, toys, and housing material has shown that Arctic bowhead whales have lost a significant portion of their genetic diversity in the past 500 years. Bowheads originally crossed ice-covered inlets and straits to exchange genes between Atlantic and Pacific populations. This conclusion

4819-422: The other populations are possible. During expeditions by a tour operator 'Arctic Kingdom', a large group of bowheads seemingly involved in courtship activities was discovered in very shallow bays south of Qikiqtarjuaq in 2012. Floating skins and rubbing behaviours at sea bottom indicated possible moulting had taken place. Moulting behaviours had never or seldom been documented for this species before. This area

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4898-616: The pack ice in the northeastern Sea of Okhotsk, then in Tausk Bay and Northeast Gulf ( Shelikhov Gulf ). Soon, ships expanded to the west, catching them around Iony Island and then around the Shantar Islands . In the Western Arctic, they mainly caught them in the Anadyr Gulf , the Bering Strait, and around St. Lawrence Island . They later spread to the western Beaufort Sea (1854) and the Mackenzie River delta (1889). Commercial whaling,

4977-531: The presence of orca , and bowheads can disappear from normal ranges in the presence of atypical numbers of orca. Increased mortality caused by orca attack is a possible outcome of climate change , as reduced ice coverage is expected to result in fewer areas that the bowheads can use for shelter from attack. Whaling grounds in the 19th century stretched from Marble Island to Roes Welcome Sound and to Lyon Inlet and Fisher Strait , and whales still migrate through most of these areas. Distribution within Hudson Bay

5056-536: The principal cause of the population decline, is over. Bowhead whales are now hunted on a subsistence level by native peoples of North America . In 2024, the Inuit hunters of Aklavik , Northwest Territories were permitted to hunt and kill one bowhead whale with the whale meat , an important part of Inuit cuisine , to be distributed to Inuvialuit and Gwich'in communities in the region. Some Alaska Natives continue by tradition to hunt bowhead and beluga whales on

5135-456: The right whale, it swims slowly, and floats after death, making it ideal for whaling. Before commercial whaling, they were estimated to number 50,000. Paleo-Eskimo sites indicate bowhead whales were eaten in sites from perhaps 4000 BC. Inuit people near the Pacific developed specific hunting tools, with the whales providing food and fuel. Commercial bowhead whaling began in the 16th century when

5214-536: The seasonal rainfall and snowfall in the Pacific Northwest and Southwestern United States comes from the Gulf of Alaska. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Gulf of Alaska as follows: On the north. The coast of Alaska . On the south. A line drawn from Cape Spencer , the northern limit of the Coastal Waters of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia to Kabuch Point,

5293-439: The ships shifted back to the Bering Strait region, where the majority of the fleet cruised during the summer until the early 20th century. An estimated 18,600 bowheads were killed in the Bering Strait region between 1848 and 1914, with 60% of the total being reached within the first two decades. An estimated 18,000 bowheads were killed in the Sea of Okhotsk during 1847–1867, 80% in the first decade. Bowheads were first taken along

5372-516: The southeast limit of the Bering Sea , in such a way that all the adjacent islands are included in the Gulf of Alaska. The US Geological Survey 's Geographic Names Information System database defines the Gulf of Alaska as bounded on the north by the coast of Alaska and on the south by a line running from the south end of Kodiak Island on the west to Dixon Entrance on the east. Bowhead whale The bowhead whale ( Balaena mysticetus )

5451-425: The summer of 1997 resulted in a massive bloom of low energy coccolithophorid phytoplankton (Stockwell et al. 2001). A long record of carbon isotopes , which is reflective of primary production trends of the Bering Sea, exists from historical samples of bowhead whale baleen . Trends in carbon isotope ratios in whale baleen samples suggest that a 30–40% decline in average seasonal primary productivity has occurred over

5530-480: The tens. However, the numbers have been increasing in recent years. The Hudson Bay – Foxe Basin population is distinct from the Baffin Bay  –  Davis Strait group. The original population size of this local group is unclear, but possibly about 500 to 600 whales annually summered in the northwestern part of the bay in the 1860s. It is likely that the number of whales that actually inhabit Hudson Bay

5609-531: The three populations of right whale plus the bowhead whale, as one, two, three or four species, either in a single genus or in two separate genera. Eventually, it was recognized that bowheads and right whales were different, but there was still no strong consensus as to whether they shared a single genus or two. As recently as 1998, Dale Rice listed just two species – B. glacialis (the right whales) and B. mysticetus (the bowheads) – in his comprehensive and otherwise authoritative classification. Studies in

5688-483: The time of death was estimated at between 115 and 130 years. Spurred by this discovery, scientists measured the ages of other bowhead whales; one specimen was estimated to be 211 years old. Other bowhead whales were estimated to be between 135 and 172 years old. This discovery showed the longevity of the bowhead whale is much greater than originally thought. Researchers at CSIRO , Australia's national science agency, estimated that bowhead whales' maximum natural lifespan

5767-804: The two seas. The most endangered but historically largest of all bowhead populations is the Svalbard/Spitsbergen population. Occurring normally in Fram Strait , Barents Sea and Severnaya Zemlya along Kara Sea to Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea regions, these whales were seen in entire coastal regions in European and Russian Arctic, even reaching to Icelandic and Scandinavian coasts and Jan Mayen in Greenland Sea , and west of Cape Farewell and western Greenland coasts. Also, bowheads in this stock were possibly once abundant in areas adjacent to

5846-412: The water. The bowhead whale has paired blowholes at the highest point of the head, which can spout a blow 6.1 m (20 ft) high. The bowhead's blubber is the thickest of any animal's, with a maximum of 43–50 cm (17–20 in). Unlike most cetaceans, the bowhead does not have a dorsal fin —an adaptation for spending much time under sea-surface ice. Like the sperm whale and other cetaceans,

5925-420: The whale must cool itself to prevent hyperthermia (and ultimately brain damage). This organ becomes engorged with blood, and as the whale opens its mouth cold seawater flows over the organ, thus cooling the blood. The bowhead whale is not a social animal, typically travelling alone or in small pods of up to six. It is able to dive and remain submerged under water for up to an hour. The time spent under water in

6004-750: The whale's genome . Through comparative analysis, two alleles that could be responsible for the whale's longevity were identified. These two specific gene mutations linked to the bowhead whale's ability to live longer are the ERCC1 gene and the proliferating cell nuclear antigen ( PCNA ) gene. ERCC1 is linked to DNA repair and increased cancer resistance. PCNA is also important in DNA repair. These mutations enable bowhead whales to better repair DNA damage, allowing for greater resistance to cancer. The whale's genome may also reveal physiological adaptations such as having low metabolic rates compared to other mammals. Changes in

6083-639: Was allegedly nearly 21.3 m (70 ft) long. In 1850, an American vessel claimed to have caught a 24.54 m ( 80 + 1 ⁄ 2  ft) individual in the Western Arctic. Whether these lengths were actually measured is questionable. The longest reliably measured were a male of 16.2 m (53 ft) and a female of 18 m (59 ft), both landed in Alaska. On average, female bowheads are larger than males. The adults would have likely measured 19 m (62 ft) in length and 80 t (88 short tons; 79 long tons) in body mass, but larger individuals (like

6162-465: Was derived from analyzing maternal lineage using mitochondrial DNA . Whaling and climatic cooling during the Little Ice Age , from the 16th century to the 19th, is supposed to have reduced the whales' summer habitats, which explains the loss of genetic diversity. A 2013 discovery has clarified the function of the bowhead's large palatal retial organ. The bulbous ridge of highly vascularized tissue,

6241-494: Was observed during the 1970s in the North Pacific seas. The Gulf is a great generator of storms . In addition to dumping vast quantities of snow and ice on southern Alaska, resulting in some of the largest concentrations south of the Arctic Circle , many of the storms move south along the coasts of British Columbia , Washington , Oregon , and as far south as Southern California (primarily during El Niño events). Much of

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