Eubalaena - The Right Whale

There are three species of Eubalaena, commonly known as the north atlantic right whale (E. glacialis), the north pacific right whale (E. japonica), and the southern right whale (E. australis). Along with the bowhead whale these constitute the clade Balaenidae. There are four recognised branches or ‘clades’ among the Mysticeti and this is one of them. They are different from rorquals and grey whales in that they have a narrow, arched upper jaw, which allows room for unusually long baleen plates. They skim across the surface picking up copepods and the like, and then use their tongues to scrape food from the baleen, whereas the rorquals lunge at great balls of fish, stretching right out in a spectacular fashion.

Two male right whales 'fencing'.

North Atlantic right whale

Right whales sticking together.

Since the right whales don’t have those super-stretch groovy bellies, they’re a good deal sturdier and more robust, with enormous heads that constitute around 40% of their bodies. They are gentle, peaceful creatures and that may be how they got their name. Sadly, as they are so docile, and are wont to loiter about near coast lines, they are very easy to discover and to harpoon. Moreover they are such gregarious, caring animals that when one of their number is in danger, rather than fleeing, they club together in solidarity, making it possible for a whaler to take a whole pod in a single sitting without the bother of a Nantucket sleigh-ride. Their high blubber content, about 40% of their weight, means that they float when dead and one can go about slaughtering them indiscriminately and come by later on to pick up the pieces. All this made them the ‘right’ whale to go after – so it goes. As a result their numbers have been so appallingly diminished that the north right whales are one of the most endangered animals in the world, and though they are no longer subject to hunting, about half of all right whale deaths since the 1970s have resulted from ship-strike and entanglement, meaning that humans are still responsible for the devastation of the species. Evidently more needs to be done to protect these amazing animals. Here's a good little film about right whales.

Face to face

Before isthmus formed at Panama

Let me tell you some interesting things about right whales. Why are there three distinct species? There used to be one, of course, but they haven’t interbred for millions of years. Two groups of right whales got separated from each other when the Isthmus of Panama connected North and South America around 3 million years ago. This was an immensely important event leading to all kinds of changes in the world, such as the warm water flowing from the Atlantic into the Pacific being redirected and creating the Gulf Stream that keeps Europe so warm now. As the equator began to warm up, right whales in the Northern Pacific got cut off from those in the South and thus established what would become two separate species again – three in all. Something they all have in common though, is their spectacularly large testes, the biggest of any animal in the world. The right whale’s testes weigh over 1000lb – 1% of its body weight – 10 times bigger than those of the blue whale. During the mating season, huge numbers of right whales gather around a single female and compete for her affections. It is believed that this competition has been the driving force behind their enormous parts. 

As for appearances in art, I'd like to direct you to Béla Tarr's masterpiece 'Werckmeister Harmonies' and especially this scene. It's not made clear what kind of whale it is, but it looks to me like a right whale. I once met an old man who remembers seeing a whale being carried about the UK and displayed to the public. Well into adulthood he felt that it may have been a false memory, never managing to discover whether such a thing had really occurred. When the internet arrived he was able to reach out and found that many people his age had had similar experiences. It seems that in 1952 three fin whales were caught off Norway and were placed on specially constructed refrigerated lorries and toured around Britain and Europe. So here is a small town in land-locked Hungary, struggling to cope with the Leviathan of the Soviet Union and its maddening control of their lives, when a whale comes to town  and stirs things up to a dangerous pitch. The scene is accompanied by a stunning score by Mihály Vig.