Northern Bottlenose Whale Hyperoodon ampullatus
One of the largest beaked whales, this species has a gray body and a bulbous forehead, which sometimes overhangs its jaws.
Males have two to four teeth, at the tip of the lower jaw; females rarely have any. Its tail fins (flukes) are large and powerful, but the front flippers are unusually small and set far forward, just behind the head. These whales are exceptionally good divers, capable of staying underwater for over two hours. Unlike other beaked whales, this species was commercially hunted for many years, but it is still locally abundant.
What Oceana Does
Oceana works to protect marine mammals such as the bottlenose whale from bycatch in commercial fisheries.
zoom image
- Order Cetacea
- Length 28–33 ft (8.5–10 m)
- Weight Up to 8.3 tons (7.5 metric tons)
- Habitat Deep water
- Distribution Arctic Ocean, temperate and subpolar waters of the north Atlantic