Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) is a toothed whale that is white in color. It lives mainly in the Arctic and sub-Arctic waters. The beluga whale is related to the narwhal, a whale with a large tusk protruding from its head.
The beluga whale is one of the smallest of all cetaceans, measuring up to 5 m (16 ft) in length and weighing up to 1,500 kg (3,300 lb). It has a small head with no beak, and its thick body tapers to a narrow tail stalk. Its flippers are short and broad. The beluga’s blubber is up to 35 cm (14 in) thick, making it well-suited for life in cold water.
The beluga whale’s skin is wrinkled and lacks an outer layer of blubber. This makes it more susceptible to cuts and abrasions than other whales. The beluga also has unique features among cetaceans: it can move its head up and down, side to side, as well as twist it; it has flexible neck vertebrae; and its face lacks a true melon Bulge above the blowhole which contains air cavities that help modulate their vocalizations – they are very chatty animals! All these characteristics give them an almost human-like appearance, which has led to their nickname “sea canary” because of the variety of sounds they produce using inflatable sacs near their blowholes.
There are two distinct stocks of belugas: one inhabits the western Arctic Ocean/Beaufort Sea area; while the other occupies eastern areas including Hudson Bay, Foxe Basin, Baffin Bay down through Davis Strait into Cumberland Sound off Nunavut’s Baffin Island where some individuals overwinter – further south than any other marine mammal! These two groups do not mix much due probably due largely to differences in ice cover between their habitats.
It’s thought that there may be around 150 000 belugas worldwide although this number may have declined by as much as 30% over just three generations largely due to hunting pressure particularly during 19th – early 20th centuries when they were hunted for oil & meat or captured live for display in aquaria – today only Russia still hunts them legally although numbers taken each year have been greatly reduced since 1986 quotas were introduced . More recently populations have been threatened by habitat loss & degradation notably due declining sea ice cover resulting from climate change which limits access important feeding areas & migration routes while also increasing exposure predators such as killer whales & polar bears.. Pollution poses another significant threat especially contamination mercury & other pollutants which can bio-accumulate causing health problems including neurological damage . Despite these threats some populations are doing relatively well e.g., those around Svalbard Norway , Greenland , Iceland where strict quotas hunting combined effective management measures such conservation efforts helped increase population size by about 6% per year between 1990 2002 .