| The Bowhead or Arctic Whale.
Balaena mysticetus, L. The Right
Whale of the Pacific. Balaena japonica, Gray. (Eubalaena
cullamach.)
The bowhead and right whales were the preferred
catch by whalers for a long time up to the beginning of the 20th
century. They had plenty of very long whalebone or baleen (up to
14 feet (4.2m) long in the bowhead), they had plenty of blubber,
they were slow swimming and floated when killed so weren't lost
and were easier to flense.
Image courtesy NOAA |
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