WoRMS

(of Delphinus leucas Pallas, 1776) Pallas, P. S. (1776). Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. Vol. 3. Kayserliche Academie der Wissenschaften, St. Petersburg. 1-454., available online at https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN330048503 [details]

Type data

Note Mouth of Ob River, northeastern Siberia,...

From editor or global species database

Type locality Mouth of Ob River, northeastern Siberia, Russian Federation [details]

Descriptive notes

Distribution Subarctic area

Distribution Subarctic area [details]

Distribution East Pacific; Eastern Atlantic Ocean, Europe and Northern Asia (excluding China); Indo-West Pacific; Western Atlantic Ocean

Distribution East Pacific; Eastern Atlantic Ocean, Europe and Northern Asia (excluding China); Indo-West Pacific; Western Atlantic Ocean [details]

Taxonomic citation

Fordyce, E.; Perrin, W.F. (2024). World Cetacea Database. Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas, 1776). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=137115 on 2024-11-21

Taxonomic edit history

Date

action

2004-12-21 15:54:05Z

created

van der Land, Jacob

2008-08-20 11:25:36Z

checked

Perrin, William

2009-03-11 12:36:54Z

changed

Perrin, William

Licensing

The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

[taxonomic tree]

original description (of Delphinus leucas Pallas, 1776) Pallas, P. S. (1776). Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs. Vol. 3. Kayserliche Academie der Wissenschaften, St. Petersburg. 1-454., available online at https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN330048503 [details]

basis of record van der Land, J. (2001). Tetrapoda, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 375-376 (look up in IMIS) [details]

additional source Carwardine, M., E. Hoyt, R. E. Fordyce and P. Gill. 1998. Whales, dolphins and porpoises. Time-Life Books. Nature Company Guides, USA. 288 p. [details]

additional source Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. , available online at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html [details]

additional source Mead, J. G.; Brownell, R. L. Jr. (2005). Cetacea. In Wilson, D.E. & D.M. Reeder (eds). Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), Johns Hopkins University Press, 2,142 pp. 723--743., available online at http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/ [details]

additional source Rice, D. W. (1998). Marine mammals of the world. Systematics and distribution. Society for Marine Mammalogy Special Publication. 4., available online at http://www.marinemammalscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/MarineMammalsOfTheWorld.pdf [details]

additional source Hershkovitz, P. (1966). Catalog of Living Whales. Bulletin of the United States National Museum. (246): 1-259., available online at https://doi.org/10.5479/si.03629236.246 [details]

additional source Jefferson, T. A., M. A. Webber and R. L. Pitman. (2008). Marine mammals of the world. Academic Press, Amsterdam. [details]

additional source IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, available online at http://www.iucnredlist.org [details]

additional source Perrin, W.F.; Würsig, B.; Thewissen, J.G.M. (2009). Encyclopedia of marine mammals. Second edition. Academic Press: London. ISBN 978-0-12-373553-9. xxix, 1316 pp. (look up in IMIS) [details]

additional source Leatherwood, S., R. R. Reeves, W. F. Perrin and W. E. Evans. (1982). Whales, dolphins, and porpoises of the eastern North Pacific and adjacent Arctic waters. A guide to their identification. NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular 444. 245pp. [details]

additional source Stewart, B. E. and R. E. A. Stewart. (1989). Delphinapterus leucas. Mammalian Species 336:1--8. [details]

additional source Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). , available online at http://www.itis.gov [details]

ecology source Looby, A.; Erbe, C.; Bravo, S.; Cox, K.; Davies, H. L.; Di Iorio, L.; Jézéquel, Y.; Juanes, F.; Martin, C. W.; Mooney, T. A.; Radford, C.; Reynolds, L. K.; Rice, A. N.; Riera, A.; Rountree, R.; Spriel, B.; Stanley, J.; Vela, S.; Parsons, M. J. G. (2023). Global inventory of species categorized by known underwater sonifery. Scientific Data. 10(1). (look up in IMIS), available online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02745-4 [details]

Present

Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio

Inaccurate

Introduced: alien

Containing type locality

From editor or global species database

Holotype None preserved. Name based on freshly harpooned animals. [details]

IUCN Red List Category subpopulation Cook Inlet beluga whale : Critically Endangered (CR) [details]

IUCN Red List Category Near Threatened (NT) [details]

Importance Belugas have been hunted for centuries for a variety of products. Beluga meat has been used to feed humans and domestic animals, the blubber used in making soap, lubricants, and margarine, and the fat of the head as a high quality lubricant. The skin has been tanned to make boots and laces. Current use is for aboriginal subsistence. [details]

Morphology Distinguishing characteristics: Belugas are white-colored whales with a fusiform body shape and a large melon on the head. This melon is thought by some to focus echolocation tones, although this is in question. The melon can also be used as an indicator of health (poorly nourished belugas have low flat melons while well fed individuals have round melons) and of emotional state--agressive individuals raise their melons forward. There are no dorsal fins. Thirty-eight teeth are present. Males are larger than females. [details]

Reproduction Calving occurs between April and September. Gestation is one year. Weaned in 1.5-2years. [details]

Type locality Mouth of Ob River, northeastern Siberia, Russian Federation [details]

Unreviewed

Diet large variety of fish, various crustaceans and other bottom living invertebrates [details]

Dimensions Length: male 12-18' (3.7-5.5 m), female 10-13 1/2' (3-4.1 m), at birth 5'+ (1.5 m +); Weight: 500-1500 kg [details]

Distribution Subarctic area [details]

Distribution East Pacific; Eastern Atlantic Ocean, Europe and Northern Asia (excluding China); Indo-West Pacific; Western Atlantic Ocean [details]

Habitat inshore including estuaries and rivers in summer, sometimes offshore [details]

Habitat mostly coastal, also in estuaries and rivers [details]

Predators None [details]

Definitions

Language	Name
Aleut	bechurinka	[details]
Anus	pechuga	[details]
Chukot	puuliak	[details]
Czech	běluha mořská	[details]
Danish	hvidhvalhvidfisk	[details]
Dutch	witviswitte dolfijnbeloega	[details]
English	white whalewhite fishwhale porpoisesea canarybulugabeluga	[details]
Even	zatcha	[details]
French	moine de mermarsouin blancdelphinaptère blancdauphin blancbélougabaleine blanche	[details]
German	WeisswalWeissfisch	[details]
Icelandic	mjaldurhuitingar	[details]
Inuktitut	qilalgaq	[details]
Inupiaq	situaq (Bering Strait)sisuaq (Northern Alaska)	[details]
Italian	belugabalena bianca	[details]
Japanese	shiro iruka	[details]
Kalaallisut	qaqortoqkulelulak	[details]
Khanty	vising-totlengvisingkh-potlaengkh	[details]
Korean	hin-gorae	[details]
Koryak	iinagik	[details]
Lithuanian	baltasis delfinas	[details]
Modern Greek (1453-)	Μπελούγκα	[details]
Nenets	fiborska	[details]
Norwegian	hvithvalhvitfiskhvidfisk	[details]
Norwegian Bokmål	hvithval	[details]
Norwegian Nynorsk	kvitkval	[details]
Polish	białucha	[details]
Russian	белухаmorkskaia belukhabelukha	[details]
Slovenian	beluga	[details]
Spanish	belugaballena blanca	[details]
Swedish	vitvalhvitfiskhvitagtik delphinhrafu-reydur	[details]
Turkish	beyaz balinabeluga balinasıbelugaak balina	[details]
Ukrainian	Білухабілуга	[details]
Welsh	morfil gwyn	[details]
Yupik languages	pulzaqkeelalugacetuaq	[details]