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Bowhead Whale

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Bowhead whale images (Balaena mysticetus) - stock photos, illustrations & facts on this whale brought to near extinction by commercial whaling

We have the rare image collection of the bowhead whale from underwater to aerial shots, created by the world’s best professional wildlife photographers and researchers. We also have many pictures capturing the animal’s various behaviors and anatomical features, including blowing, spouting, breaching, diving, flukes, bones, skeletons, hunting by eskimo, carcass being eaten by polar bears, etc. This is your go-to stock photo resource for high quality bowhead whale images.

Kingdom: Animalia > Phylum: Chordata > Class: Mammalia > Order: Artiodactyla > Infraorder: Cetacea > Family: Balaenidae > Genus: Balaena > Species: B. mysticetus - Binomial name: Balaena mysticetus

The bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus, is a baleen whale that spends its life in the Arctic at the ocean’s surface. Also known as the Greenland right whale or Arctic whale, it is listed by CITES as "threatened with extinction". It is listed as endangered under the United States' Endangered Species Act. It is estimated that there are only about 8,000-12,000 bowhead whales world-wide, their populations have been decimated by commercial whaling.

The bowhead whale is a large whale with a stocky body up to 66 feet long. It is dark grey with a white patch under its lower snout. It has no dorsal fin, but has the largest mouth of any living animal. Like all baleen whales, it feeds on zooplankton, scooping mouthfuls of ocean water that it expresses out, catching food in its up to 9 feet long baleen plates. They are estimated to live to 60 years and some to more than 100 years.

The bowhead whale has a huge skull that it uses to break holes in the ice to breathe. The bowhead whale is social and not aggressive, and will retreat back under the ice when threatened. At the surface, they breathe through two blowholes, spouting several times a minute in a mass of cloud that reaches 20 feet high. They are usually found in groups of around six animals, swimming slowly to feed. Sometimes breaching, tail-slapping and spyhopping can be observed.

Bowhead whales are hunted for blubber, which is up to 20 inches thick, more than any other animal, and for meat, oil, baleen, and bones. Commercial whaling began in the 16th century and continued up until the mid-20th century, during which time the population was almost wiped out. Since suspension of commercial whaling, their numbers are slowing increasing, although Alaska natives continue to hunt and kill around 40 animals each year.
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