The North Atlantic right whale and the southern right whale can be found where their name suggests. The North Pacific or the Southern Hemisphere. Right whales got their names from whaling; they were named the “right” whale because they float when they die. So, they were the right kind of whales to kill. Right whales are baleen whales; they eat copepods by using their baleen plates, which they use as a sieve. Due to whaling in the early 1890s the Right whales were on the brink of extinction. NOAA Fisheries are dedicated to conserving and rebuilding the North Atlantic right whale population.
The North Atlantic right whales are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1970. Aproximately 360 individuals remaing, which include fewer than 70 reproducing female. The North Atlantic right whales are black with no dorsal fins. Their blow holes are shaped like a V. They have broad, deeply notched, and all black tails with a smoth trailling edge. Their heads have bumpy white patches of rough skin, which are called callosties that only appear white due to whale lice also know as cyamids.
