120-631: Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus Eubalaena : the North Atlantic right whale ( E. glacialis ), the North Pacific right whale ( E. japonica ) and the Southern right whale ( E. australis ). They are classified in the family Balaenidae with the bowhead whale . Right whales have rotund bodies with arching rostrums , V-shaped blowholes and dark gray or black skin. The most distinguishing feature of
240-423: A gestation period of 1 year. The right whale grows rapidly in its first year, typically doubling in length. Weaning occurs after eight months to one year and the growth rate in later years is not well understood—it may be highly dependent on whether a calf stays with its mother for a second year. Respective congregation areas in the same region may function as for different objectives for whales. Very little
360-423: A mutation–selection balance . It is predicted that a viral quasispecies at a low but evolutionarily neutral and highly connected (that is, flat) region in the fitness landscape will outcompete a quasispecies located at a higher but narrower fitness peak in which the surrounding mutants are unfit, "the quasispecies effect" or the "survival of the flattest". There is no suggestion that a viral quasispecies resembles
480-400: A "classical" method of determining species, such as with Linnaeus, early in evolutionary theory. However, different phenotypes are not necessarily different species (e.g. a four-winged Drosophila born to a two-winged mother is not a different species). Species named in this manner are called morphospecies . In the 1970s, Robert R. Sokal , Theodore J. Crovello and Peter Sneath proposed
600-424: A 'smallest clade' idea" (a phylogenetic species concept). Mishler and Wilkins and others concur with this approach, even though this would raise difficulties in biological nomenclature. Wilkins cited the ichthyologist Charles Tate Regan 's early 20th century remark that "a species is whatever a suitably qualified biologist chooses to call a species". Wilkins noted that the philosopher Philip Kitcher called this
720-428: A barrier that prevents mixing between the northern and southern groups with minor exclusions. Although the southern species in particular must travel across open ocean to reach its feeding grounds, the species is not considered to be pelagic . In general, they prefer to stay close to peninsulas and bays and on continental shelves , as these areas offer greater shelter and an abundance of their preferred foods. Because
840-462: A bowhead whale. Adult right whales are typically 13–16 m (43–52 ft) long. They have extremely thick bodies with a girth as much as 60% of total body length in some cases. They have large, broad and blunt pectoral flippers and the deeply notched, smoothly tipped tail flukes make up to 40% of their body length. The North Pacific species is on average the largest of the three species. weigh 100 short tons (91 t; 89 long tons). The upper jaw of
960-428: A connected series of neighbouring populations, each of which can sexually interbreed with adjacent related populations, but for which there exist at least two "end" populations in the series, which are too distantly related to interbreed, though there is a potential gene flow between each "linked" population. Such non-breeding, though genetically connected, "end" populations may co-exist in the same region thus closing
1080-432: A different species from its ancestors. Viruses have enormous populations, are doubtfully living since they consist of little more than a string of DNA or RNA in a protein coat, and mutate rapidly. All of these factors make conventional species concepts largely inapplicable. A viral quasispecies is a group of genotypes related by similar mutations, competing within a highly mutagenic environment, and hence governed by
1200-574: A few sightings have happened between Norway, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and Italy; at least the Norway individuals come from the Western stock. The North Pacific right whale appears to occur in two populations. The population in the eastern North Pacific/Bering Sea is extremely low, numbering about 30 individuals. A larger western population of 100–200 appears to be surviving in
1320-508: A genetic boundary suitable for defining a species concept is present. DNA barcoding has been proposed as a way to distinguish species suitable even for non-specialists to use. One of the barcodes is a region of mitochondrial DNA within the gene for cytochrome c oxidase . A database, Barcode of Life Data System , contains DNA barcode sequences from over 190,000 species. However, scientists such as Rob DeSalle have expressed concern that classical taxonomy and DNA barcoding, which they consider
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#17327767885421440-579: A group of right whales may cluster into a circle, and thrash their outwards-pointing tails. They may also head for shallow water, which sometimes proves to be an ineffective defense. Aside from the strong tails and massive heads equipped with callosities, the sheer size of this animal is its best defense, making young calves the most vulnerable to orca and shark attacks. Vocalizations made by right whales are not elaborate compared to those made by other whale species. The whales make groans, pops and belches typically at frequencies around 500 Hz . The purpose of
1560-465: A lineage should be divided into multiple chronospecies , or when populations have diverged to have enough distinct character states to be described as cladistic species. Species and higher taxa were seen from the time of Aristotle until the 18th century as categories that could be arranged in a hierarchy, the great chain of being . In the 19th century, biologists grasped that species could evolve given sufficient time. Charles Darwin 's 1859 book On
1680-492: A misnomer, need to be reconciled, as they delimit species differently. Genetic introgression mediated by endosymbionts and other vectors can further make barcodes ineffective in the identification of species. A phylogenetic or cladistic species is "the smallest aggregation of populations (sexual) or lineages (asexual) diagnosable by a unique combination of character states in comparable individuals (semaphoronts)". The empirical basis – observed character states – provides
1800-695: A museum dedicated to the whales. In winter in Argentina, Península Valdés in Patagonia hosts the largest breeding population of the species, with more than 2,000 animals catalogued by the Whale Conservation Institute and Ocean Alliance . Both the North Atlantic and North Pacific species are listed as a "species threatened with extinction which [is] or may be affected by trade" (Appendix I) by CITES , and as "endangered" by
1920-449: A particular species, including which genus (and higher taxa) it is placed in, is a hypothesis about the evolutionary relationships and distinguishability of that group of organisms. As further information comes to hand, the hypothesis may be corroborated or refuted. Sometimes, especially in the past when communication was more difficult, taxonomists working in isolation have given two distinct names to individual organisms later identified as
2040-400: A perfect model of life, it is still a useful tool to scientists and conservationists for studying life on Earth, regardless of the theoretical difficulties. If species were fixed and clearly distinct from one another, there would be no problem, but evolutionary processes cause species to change. This obliges taxonomists to decide, for example, when enough change has occurred to declare that
2160-603: A population approaching twice that of a decade earlier. However, other breeding populations are still very small, and data are insufficient to determine whether they, too, are recovering. The southern right whale spends the summer months in the far Southern Ocean feeding, probably close to Antarctica . It migrates north in winter for breeding, and can be seen around the coasts of Argentina , Australia , Brazil , Chile , Mozambique , New Zealand , South Africa and Uruguay . The South American, South African and Australasian groups apparently intermix very little, if at all, because of
2280-550: A process to uniquely identify right whales with about 87% accuracy based on their callosities. The primary role of callosities has been considered to be protection against predators. Right whale declines might have also reduced barnacles. An unusually large 40% of their body weight is blubber , which is of relatively low density. Consequently, unlike many other species of whale, dead right whales tend to float. Many southern right whales are seen with rolls of fats behind blowholes that northern species often lack, and these are regarded as
2400-418: A right whale is a bit arched, and the lower lip is strongly curved. On each side of the upper jaw are 200–270 baleen plates . These are narrow and approximately 2–2.8 m (6.6–9.2 ft) long, and are covered in very thin hairs. Right whales have a distinctive wide V-shaped blow, caused by the widely spaced blowholes on the top of the head. The blow rises 5 m (16 ft) above the surface. The skin
2520-430: A right whale is the rough patches of skin on its head, which appear white due to parasitism by whale lice . Right whales are typically 13–17 m (43–56 ft) long and weigh up to 100 short tons (91 t; 89 long tons) or more. All three species are migratory , moving seasonally to feed or give birth. The warm equatorial waters form a barrier that isolates the northern and southern species from one another although
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#17327767885422640-400: A short way of saying that something applies to many species within a genus, but not to all. If scientists mean that something applies to all species within a genus, they use the genus name without the specific name or epithet. The names of genera and species are usually printed in italics . However, abbreviations such as "sp." should not be italicised. When a species' identity is not clear,
2760-466: A sign of better health condition due to sufficient nutrition supply, and could have contributed in vast differences in recovery status between right whales in the southern and northern hemisphere, other than direct impacts by humankind. The penis on a right whale can be up to 2.7 m (8.9 ft) – the testes , at up to 2 m (6.6 ft) in length, 78 cm (2.56 ft) in diameter, and weighing up to 525 kg (1157 lbs), are also by far
2880-477: A single species, Balaena mysticetus . Eventually, it was recognized that bowheads and right whales were in fact different, and John Edward Gray proposed the genus Eubalaena for the right whale in 1864. Later, morphological factors such as differences in the skull shape of northern and southern right whales indicated at least two species of right whale – one in the Northern Hemisphere, the other in
3000-404: A specialist may use "cf." before the epithet to indicate that confirmation is required. The abbreviations "nr." (near) or "aff." (affine) may be used when the identity is unclear but when the species appears to be similar to the species mentioned after. With the rise of online databases, codes have been devised to provide identifiers for species that are already defined, including: The naming of
3120-523: A species as groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations, which are reproductively isolated from other such groups. It has been argued that this definition is a natural consequence of the effect of sexual reproduction on the dynamics of natural selection. Mayr's use of the adjective "potentially" has been a point of debate; some interpretations exclude unusual or artificial matings that occur only in captivity, or that involve animals capable of mating but that do not normally do so in
3240-400: A species as determined by a taxonomist. A typological species is a group of organisms in which individuals conform to certain fixed properties (a type), so that even pre-literate people often recognise the same taxon as do modern taxonomists. The clusters of variations or phenotypes within specimens (such as longer or shorter tails) would differentiate the species. This method was used as
3360-464: A species of whale. The existence of this species has been debated, and further evidence for this species was discovered during the construction of a motorway in Strömstad , Sweden in 2009. To date, however, scientific consensus still considers Hunterius swedenborgii to be a North Atlantic right whale. According to a DNA analysis conducted, it was later confirmed that the fossil bones are actually from
3480-491: A species. All species definitions assume that an organism acquires its genes from one or two parents very like the "daughter" organism, but that is not what happens in HGT. There is strong evidence of HGT between very dissimilar groups of prokaryotes , and at least occasionally between dissimilar groups of eukaryotes , including some crustaceans and echinoderms . The evolutionary biologist James Mallet concludes that there
3600-685: A species. Generally the term includes the unknown element of a distinct act of creation. Many authors have argued that a simple textbook definition, following Mayr's concept, works well for most multi-celled organisms , but breaks down in several situations: Species identification is made difficult by discordance between molecular and morphological investigations; these can be categorised as two types: (i) one morphology, multiple lineages (e.g. morphological convergence , cryptic species ) and (ii) one lineage, multiple morphologies (e.g. phenotypic plasticity , multiple life-cycle stages). In addition, horizontal gene transfer (HGT) makes it difficult to define
3720-528: A taxonomic decision at the discretion of cognizant specialists, is not governed by the Codes of Zoological or Botanical Nomenclature, in contrast to the PhyloCode , and contrary to what is done in several other fields, in which the definitions of technical terms, like geochronological units and geopolitical entities, are explicitly delimited. The nomenclatural codes that guide the naming of species, including
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3840-517: A traditional biological species. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses has since 1962 developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses; this has stabilised viral taxonomy. Most modern textbooks make use of Ernst Mayr 's 1942 definition, known as the Biological Species Concept as a basis for further discussion on the definition of species. It is also called a reproductive or isolation concept. This defines
3960-447: A variation on the morphological species concept, a phenetic species, defined as a set of organisms with a similar phenotype to each other, but a different phenotype from other sets of organisms. It differs from the morphological species concept in including a numerical measure of distance or similarity to cluster entities based on multivariate comparisons of a reasonably large number of phenotypic traits. A mate-recognition species
4080-515: A variety of reasons. Viruses are a special case, driven by a balance of mutation and selection , and can be treated as quasispecies . Biologists and taxonomists have made many attempts to define species, beginning from morphology and moving towards genetics . Early taxonomists such as Linnaeus had no option but to describe what they saw: this was later formalised as the typological or morphological species concept. Ernst Mayr emphasised reproductive isolation, but this, like other species concepts,
4200-438: Is "an entity composed of organisms which maintains its identity from other such entities through time and over space, and which has its own independent evolutionary fate and historical tendencies". This differs from the biological species concept in embodying persistence over time. Wiley and Mayden stated that they see the evolutionary species concept as "identical" to Willi Hennig 's species-as-lineages concept, and asserted that
4320-400: Is a group of sexually reproducing organisms that recognise one another as potential mates. Expanding on this to allow for post-mating isolation, a cohesion species is the most inclusive population of individuals having the potential for phenotypic cohesion through intrinsic cohesion mechanisms; no matter whether populations can hybridise successfully, they are still distinct cohesion species if
4440-452: Is a population of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring , typically by sexual reproduction . It is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity . Other ways of defining species include their karyotype , DNA sequence, morphology , behaviour, or ecological niche . In addition, paleontologists use
4560-458: Is a set of organisms adapted to a particular set of resources, called a niche, in the environment. According to this concept, populations form the discrete phenetic clusters that we recognise as species because the ecological and evolutionary processes controlling how resources are divided up tend to produce those clusters. A genetic species as defined by Robert Baker and Robert Bradley is a set of genetically isolated interbreeding populations. This
4680-442: Is a tool for visualizing and comparing the evolutionary relationships between taxa ; the point where each node branches is analogous to an evolutionary branching – the diagram can be read left-to-right, much like a timeline. Whale lice , parasitic cyamid crustaceans that live off skin debris, offer further information through their own genetics. Because these lice reproduce much more quickly than whales, their genetic diversity
4800-414: Is called speciation . Charles Darwin was the first to describe the role of natural selection in speciation in his 1859 book The Origin of Species . Speciation depends on a measure of reproductive isolation , a reduced gene flow. This occurs most easily in allopatric speciation, where populations are separated geographically and can diverge gradually as mutations accumulate. Reproductive isolation
4920-412: Is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature , also sometimes in zoological nomenclature ). For example, Boa constrictor is one of the species of the genus Boa , with constrictor being the species' epithet. While the definitions given above may seem adequate at first glance, when looked at more closely they represent problematic species concepts. For example,
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5040-403: Is described formally, in a publication that assigns it a unique scientific name. The description typically provides means for identifying the new species, which may not be based solely on morphology (see cryptic species ), differentiating it from other previously described and related or confusable species and provides a validly published name (in botany) or an available name (in zoology) when
5160-671: Is further weakened by the existence of microspecies , groups of organisms, including many plants, with very little genetic variability, usually forming species aggregates . For example, the dandelion Taraxacum officinale and the blackberry Rubus fruticosus are aggregates with many microspecies—perhaps 400 in the case of the blackberry and over 200 in the dandelion, complicated by hybridisation , apomixis and polyploidy , making gene flow between populations difficult to determine, and their taxonomy debatable. Species complexes occur in insects such as Heliconius butterflies, vertebrates such as Hypsiboas treefrogs, and fungi such as
5280-436: Is generally black with occasional white blotches on the body, while some individuals have mottled patterns. Unlike other whales, a right whale has distinctive callosities (roughened patches of skin) on its head. The callosities appear white due to large colonies of cyamids ( whale lice ). Each individual has a unique callosities pattern. In 2016, a competitive effort resulted in the use of facial recognition software to derive
5400-553: Is greater. Marine biologists at the University of Utah examined these louse genes and determined their hosts split into three species 5–6 million years ago, and these species were all equally abundant before whaling began in the 11th century. The communities first split because of the joining of North and South America . The rising temperatures of the equator then created a second split, into northern and southern groups, preventing them from interbreeding. "This puts an end to
5520-726: Is hard or even impossible to test. Later biologists have tried to refine Mayr's definition with the recognition and cohesion concepts, among others. Many of the concepts are quite similar or overlap, so they are not easy to count: the biologist R. L. Mayden recorded about 24 concepts, and the philosopher of science John Wilkins counted 26. Wilkins further grouped the species concepts into seven basic kinds of concepts: (1) agamospecies for asexual organisms (2) biospecies for reproductively isolated sexual organisms (3) ecospecies based on ecological niches (4) evolutionary species based on lineage (5) genetic species based on gene pool (6) morphospecies based on form or phenotype and (7) taxonomic species,
5640-570: Is important in mating, which correlates to the fact that right whales are highly promiscuous . The three Eubalaena species inhabit three distinct areas of the globe: the North Atlantic in the western Atlantic Ocean, the North Pacific in a band from Japan to Alaska and all areas of the Southern Ocean . The whales can only cope with the moderate temperatures found between 20 and 60 degrees in latitude. The warm equatorial waters form
5760-422: Is known about the life span of right whales. One of the few well-documented cases is of a female North Atlantic right whale that was photographed with a baby in 1935, then photographed again in 1959, 1980, 1985, and 1992. Consistent callosity patterns ensured it was the same animal. She was last photographed in 1995 with a seemingly fatal head wound, presumably from a ship strike. By conservative estimates (e.g. she
5880-403: Is no easy way to tell whether related geographic or temporal forms belong to the same or different species. Species gaps can be verified only locally and at a point of time. One is forced to admit that Darwin's insight is correct: any local reality or integrity of species is greatly reduced over large geographic ranges and time periods. The botanist Brent Mishler argued that the species concept
6000-478: Is not valid, notably because gene flux decreases gradually rather than in discrete steps, which hampers objective delimitation of species. Indeed, complex and unstable patterns of gene flux have been observed in cichlid teleosts of the East African Great Lakes . Wilkins argued that "if we were being true to evolution and the consequent phylogenetic approach to taxa, we should replace it with
6120-429: Is questionable: in his history of American whaling, Eric Jay Dolin writes: Despite this highly plausible rationale, nobody actually knows how the right whale got its name. The earliest references to the right whale offer no indication why it was called that, and some who have studied the issue point out that the word "right" in this context might just as likely be intended "to connote 'true' or 'proper,' meaning typical of
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#17327767885426240-586: Is similar to Mayr's Biological Species Concept, but stresses genetic rather than reproductive isolation. In the 21st century, a genetic species could be established by comparing DNA sequences. Earlier, other methods were available, such as comparing karyotypes (sets of chromosomes ) and allozymes ( enzyme variants). An evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) or "wildlife species" is a population of organisms considered distinct for purposes of conservation. In palaeontology , with only comparative anatomy (morphology) and histology from fossils as evidence,
6360-441: Is sometimes an important source of genetic variation. Viruses can transfer genes between species. Bacteria can exchange plasmids with bacteria of other species, including some apparently distantly related ones in different phylogenetic domains , making analysis of their relationships difficult, and weakening the concept of a bacterial species. John Edward Gray John Edward Gray FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875)
6480-516: Is still able to assess the condition of potential mates. The mean age of first parturition in North Atlantic right whales is estimated at between 7.5 and 9 years. Females breed every 3–5 years; the most commonly seen calving intervals are 3 years and may vary from 2 up to 21 years due to multiple factors. Both reproduction and calving take place during the winter months. Calves are approximately 1 short ton (0.91 t; 0.89 long tons) in weight and 4–6 m (13–20 ft) in length at birth following
6600-594: Is threatened by hybridisation, but this can be selected against once a pair of populations have incompatible alleles of the same gene, as described in the Bateson–Dobzhansky–Muller model . A different mechanism, phyletic speciation, involves one lineage gradually changing over time into a new and distinct form (a chronospecies ), without increasing the number of resultant species. Horizontal gene transfer between organisms of different species, either through hybridisation , antigenic shift , or reassortment ,
6720-469: The Bay of Fundy and Cape Cod Bay . In winter, they head south towards Georgia and Florida to give birth. There have been a smattering of sightings further east over the past few decades; several sightings were made close to Iceland in 2003. These are possibly the remains of a virtually extinct eastern Atlantic stock, but examination of old whalers' records suggests they are more likely to be strays. However,
6840-530: The ICZN for animals and the ICN for plants, do not make rules for defining the boundaries of the species. Research can change the boundaries, also known as circumscription, based on new evidence. Species may then need to be distinguished by the boundary definitions used, and in such cases the names may be qualified with sensu stricto ("in the narrow sense") to denote usage in the exact meaning given by an author such as
6960-1018: The IUCN Red List . In the United States, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), a subagency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has classified all three species as " endangered " under the Endangered Species Act . Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act , they are listed as "depleted". The southern right whale is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act , as "nationally endangered" under
7080-1072: The Linnean Society of London , Gray shifted his interest from botany to zoology . He began his zoological career by volunteering to collect insects for the British Museum at age 15. He officially joined the Zoological Department in 1824 to help John George Children catalog the reptile collection. In some of his early articles, Gray adopted William Sharp Macleay 's quinarian system for classifications of molluscs (1824), butterflies (1824), echinoderms (1825), reptiles (1825), and mammals (1825). In 1840, he took over Children's position as keeper of zoology, which he held for 35 years, publishing well over 1,000 papers. He named many cetacean species , genera , subfamilies , and families . During this period, he collaborated with Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins ,
7200-712: The New Zealand Threat Classification System , as a "natural monument" by the Argentine National Congress , and as a "State Natural Monument" under the Brazilian National Endangered Species List. The U.S. and Brazil added new protections for right whales in the 2000s to address the two primary hazards. While environmental campaigners were, as reported in 2001, pleased about the plan's positive effects, they attempted to force
7320-437: The Southern Ocean . As recently as 1998, Rice, in his comprehensive and otherwise authoritative classification listed just two species: Balaena glacialis (the right whales) and Balaena mysticetus (the bowheads). In 2000, two studies of DNA samples from each of the whale populations concluded the northern and southern populations of right whale should be considered separate species. What some scientists found more surprising
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#17327767885427440-474: The bowhead , and properly belong to a separate genus. The following cladogram of the family Balaenidae serves to illustrate the current scientific consensus as to the relationships between the three right whales and the bowhead whale. E. glacialis (North Atlantic right whale) E. japonica (North Pacific right whale) E. australis (Southern right whale) B. mysticetus bowhead whale A cladogram
7560-399: The fly agaric . Natural hybridisation presents a challenge to the concept of a reproductively isolated species, as fertile hybrids permit gene flow between two populations. For example, the carrion crow Corvus corone and the hooded crow Corvus cornix appear and are classified as separate species, yet they can hybridise where their geographical ranges overlap. A ring species is
7680-507: The jaguar ( Panthera onca ) of Latin America or the leopard ( Panthera pardus ) of Africa and Asia. In contrast, the scientific names of species are chosen to be unique and universal (except for some inter-code homonyms ); they are in two parts used together : the genus as in Puma , and the specific epithet as in concolor . A species is given a taxonomic name when a type specimen
7800-599: The monotypic Family Neobalaenidae , but a 2012 study suggests that it is instead the last living member of the Family Cetotheriidae , a family previously considered extinct. Yet another species of right whale was proposed by Emanuel Swedenborg in the 18th century—the so-called Swedenborg whale . The description of this species was based on a collection of fossil bones unearthed at Norra Vånga, Sweden, in 1705 and believed to be those of giants . The bones were examined by Swedenborg, who realized they belong to
7920-652: The natural history holdings were split off to the Natural History Museum . He published several catalogues of the museum collections that included comprehensive discussions of animal groups and descriptions of new species . He improved the zoological collections to make them amongst the best in the world. Gray was born in Walsall , but his family soon moved to London, where Gray studied medicine. He assisted his father in writing The Natural Arrangement of British Plants (1821). After being blackballed by
8040-406: The "cynical species concept", and arguing that far from being cynical, it usefully leads to an empirical taxonomy for any given group, based on taxonomists' experience. Other biologists have gone further and argued that we should abandon species entirely, and refer to the "Least Inclusive Taxonomic Units" (LITUs), a view that would be coherent with current evolutionary theory. The species concept
8160-495: The 1940s and more under scientific permit in the 1960s. Illegal whaling continued off the coast of Brazil for many years, and the Imbituba land station processed right whales until 1973. The Soviet Union illegally took at least 3,212 southern right whales during the 1950s and '60s, although it reported taking only four. The southern right whale has made Hermanus , South Africa, one of the world centers for whale watching. During
8280-846: The IUCN, is protected in the jurisdictional waters of all countries with known breeding populations (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and Uruguay). In Brazil, a federal Environmental Protection Area encompassing some 1,560 km (600 sq mi) and 130 km (81 mi) of coastline in Santa Catarina State was established in 2000 to protect the species' main breeding grounds in Brazil and promote whale watching. On February 6, 2006, NOAA proposed its Strategy to Reduce Ship Strikes to North Atlantic Right Whales. The proposal, opposed by some shipping interests, limited ship speeds during calving season. The proposal
8400-470: The North Atlantic right whale, which migrates through some of the world's busiest shipping lanes while journeying off the east coast of the United States and Canada, is being struck by ships. At least sixteen ship-strike deaths were reported between 1970 and 1999, and probably more remain unreported. According to NOAA, twenty-five of the seventy-one right whale deaths reported since 1970 resulted from ship strikes. Species A species ( pl. : species)
8520-630: The North Pacific right whale as a distinct species, and in 2002, the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) accepted Rosenbaum's findings, and recommended that the Eubalaena nomenclature be retained for this genus. A 2007 study by Churchill provided further evidence to conclude that the three different living right whale species constitute a distinct phylogenetic lineage from
8640-626: The Origin of Species explained how species could arise by natural selection . That understanding was greatly extended in the 20th century through genetics and population ecology . Genetic variability arises from mutations and recombination , while organisms themselves are mobile, leading to geographical isolation and genetic drift with varying selection pressures . Genes can sometimes be exchanged between species by horizontal gene transfer ; new species can arise rapidly through hybridisation and polyploidy ; and species may become extinct for
8760-502: The Sea of Okhotsk, but very little is known about this population. Thus, the two northern right whale species are the most endangered of all large whales and two of the most endangered animal species in the world. Based on current population density trends, both species are predicted to become extinct within 200 years. The Pacific species was historically found in summer from the Sea of Okhotsk in
8880-657: The South Atlantic before the end of the 18th century. The southernmost Brazilian whaling station was established in 1796, in Imbituba . Over the next hundred years, Yankee whaling spread into the Southern and Pacific Oceans, where the Americans were joined by fleets from several European nations. The beginning of the 20th century saw much greater industrialization of whaling, and the harvest grew rapidly. According to whalers' records, by 1937 there had been 38,000 takes in
9000-587: The South Atlantic, 39,000 in the South Pacific, 1,300 in the Indian Ocean , and 15,000 in the North Pacific. The incompleteness of these records means the actual take was somewhat higher. As it became clear the stocks were nearly depleted, the world banned right whaling in 1937. The ban was largely successful, although violations continued for several decades. Madeira took its last two right whales in 1968. Japan took twenty-three Pacific right whales in
9120-721: The US government to do more. In particular, they advocated 12 knots (22 km/h) speed limits for ships within 40 km (25 mi) of US ports in times of high right whale presence. Citing concerns about excessive trade disruption, it did not institute greater protections. The Defenders of Wildlife , the Humane Society of the United States and the Ocean Conservancy sued the NMFS in September 2005 for "failing to protect
9240-405: The abbreviation "sp." in the singular or "spp." (standing for species pluralis , Latin for "multiple species") in the plural in place of the specific name or epithet (e.g. Canis sp.). This commonly occurs when authors are confident that some individuals belong to a particular genus but are not sure to which exact species they belong, as is common in paleontology . Authors may also use "spp." as
9360-570: The amount of hybridisation is insufficient to completely mix their respective gene pools . A further development of the recognition concept is provided by the biosemiotic concept of species. In microbiology , genes can move freely even between distantly related bacteria, possibly extending to the whole bacterial domain. As a rule of thumb, microbiologists have assumed that members of Bacteria or Archaea with 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences more similar than 97% to each other need to be checked by DNA–DNA hybridisation to decide if they belong to
9480-474: The biological species concept, "the several versions" of the phylogenetic species concept, and the idea that species are of the same kind as higher taxa are not suitable for biodiversity studies (with the intention of estimating the number of species accurately). They further suggested that the concept works for both asexual and sexually-reproducing species. A version of the concept is Kevin de Queiroz 's "General Lineage Concept of Species". An ecological species
9600-505: The biological species concept, a cladistic species does not rely on reproductive isolation – its criteria are independent of processes that are integral in other concepts. Therefore, it applies to asexual lineages. However, it does not always provide clear cut and intuitively satisfying boundaries between taxa, and may require multiple sources of evidence, such as more than one polymorphic locus, to give plausible results. An evolutionary species, suggested by George Gaylord Simpson in 1951,
9720-428: The boundaries between closely related species become unclear with hybridisation , in a species complex of hundreds of similar microspecies , and in a ring species . Also, among organisms that reproduce only asexually , the concept of a reproductive species breaks down, and each clone is potentially a microspecies. Although none of these are entirely satisfactory definitions, and while the concept of species may not be
9840-428: The coast, and their high blubber content (which makes them float when they are killed, and which produced high yields of whale oil ). Although the whales no longer face pressure from commercial whaling, humans remain by far the greatest threat to these species: the two leading causes of death are being struck by ships and entanglement in fishing gear. Today, the North Atlantic and North Pacific right whales are among
9960-433: The concept of a chronospecies can be applied. During anagenesis (evolution, not necessarily involving branching), some palaeontologists seek to identify a sequence of species, each one derived from the phyletically extinct one before through continuous, slow and more or less uniform change. In such a time sequence, some palaeontologists assess how much change is required for a morphologically distinct form to be considered
10080-416: The concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. About 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses ) are given a two-part name , called a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part
10200-401: The critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, which the agency acknowledges is 'the rarest of all large whale species' and which federal agencies are required to protect by both the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act ", demanding emergency protection measures. The southern right whale, listed as "endangered" by CITES and "lower risk - conservation dependent" by
10320-435: The evidence to support hypotheses about evolutionarily divergent lineages that have maintained their hereditary integrity through time and space. Molecular markers may be used to determine diagnostic genetic differences in the nuclear or mitochondrial DNA of various species. For example, in a study done on fungi , studying the nucleotide characters using cladistic species produced the most accurate results in recognising
10440-541: The first to hunt right whales commercially, beginning as early as the 11th century in the Bay of Biscay . They initially sought oil, but as meat preservation technology improved, the animal was also used for food. Basque whalers reached eastern Canada by 1530 and the shores of Todos os Santos Bay (in Bahia , Brazil) by 1602. The last Basque voyages were made before the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). All attempts to revive
10560-413: The group." For the scientific names , the generic name Eubalaena means "good or true whales", and specific names include glacialis ("ice") for North Atlantic species, australis ("southern") for Southern Hemisphere species, and japonica ("Japanese") for North Pacific species. The right whales were first classified in the genus Balaena in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus , who at the time considered all of
10680-482: The intent to save them. During his 50 years employed at the British Museum, Gray wrote nearly 500 papers, including many descriptions of species new to science. These had been presented to the museum by collectors from around the world, and included all branches of zoology, although Gray usually left the descriptions of new birds to his younger brother and colleague George. Gray was also active in malacology ,
10800-436: The largest of any animal on Earth. The blue whale may be the largest animal on the planet, yet the testicles of the right whale are ten times the size of those of the blue whale. They also exceed predictions in terms of relative size, being six times larger than would be expected on the basis of body mass. Together, the testicles make up nearly 1% of the right whale's total body weight. This strongly suggests sperm competition
10920-604: The long debate about whether there are three Eubalaena species of right whale. They really are separate beyond a doubt", Jon Seger, the project's leader, told BBC News. The pygmy right whale ( Caperea marginata ), a much smaller whale of the Southern Hemisphere, was until recently considered a member of the Family Balaenidae. However, they are not right whales at all, and their taxonomy is presently in doubt. Most recent authors place this species into
11040-408: The most endangered whales in the world. A common explanation for the name right whales is that they were regarded as the right ones to hunt, as they float when killed and often swim within sight of shore. They are quite docile and do not tend to shy away from approaching boats. As a result, they were hunted nearly to extinction during the active years of the whaling industry. However, this origin
11160-602: The noted natural history artist, in producing Gleanings from the Menagerie at Knowsley . The menagerie at Knowsley Hall , near Liverpool , founded by Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby , at the Stanley ancestral seat, was one of the largest private menageries in Victorian England. Gray married Maria Emma Smith in 1826. She helped him with his scientific work, especially with her drawings. In 1833, Gray
11280-519: The number of ship-whale collisions or to encourage the whales to surface for ease of harvesting. During the mating season , which can occur at any time in the North Atlantic, right whales gather into "surface-active groups" made up of as many as 20 males consorting a single female. The female has her belly to the surface while the males stroke her with their flippers or keep her underwater. The males do not compete as aggressively against each other as male humpbacks. The female may not become pregnant but she
11400-483: The numerous fungi species of all the concepts studied. Versions of the phylogenetic species concept that emphasise monophyly or diagnosability may lead to splitting of existing species, for example in Bovidae , by recognising old subspecies as species, despite the fact that there are no reproductive barriers, and populations may intergrade morphologically. Others have called this approach taxonomic inflation , diluting
11520-457: The oceans are so large, it is very difficult to accurately gauge whale population sizes. Approximate figures: Almost all of the 400 North Atlantic right whales live in the western North Atlantic Ocean. In northern spring, summer and autumn, they feed in areas off the Canadian and northeast U.S. coasts in a range stretching from New York to Newfoundland . Particularly popular feeding areas are
11640-593: The paper is accepted for publication. The type material is usually held in a permanent repository, often the research collection of a major museum or university, that allows independent verification and the means to compare specimens. Describers of new species are asked to choose names that, in the words of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature , are "appropriate, compact, euphonious, memorable, and do not cause offence". Books and articles sometimes intentionally do not identify species fully, using
11760-674: The person who named the species, while the antonym sensu lato ("in the broad sense") denotes a wider usage, for instance including other subspecies. Other abbreviations such as "auct." ("author"), and qualifiers such as "non" ("not") may be used to further clarify the sense in which the specified authors delineated or described the species. Species are subject to change, whether by evolving into new species, exchanging genes with other species, merging with other species or by becoming extinct. The evolutionary process by which biological populations of sexually-reproducing organisms evolve to become distinct or reproductively isolated as species
11880-487: The result of misclassification leading to questions on whether there really are any ring species. The commonly used names for kinds of organisms are often ambiguous: "cat" could mean the domestic cat, Felis catus , or the cat family, Felidae . Another problem with common names is that they often vary from place to place, so that puma, cougar, catamount, panther, painter and mountain lion all mean Puma concolor in various parts of America, while "panther" may also mean
12000-426: The right whales (including the bowhead) as a single species. Through the 19th and 20th centuries, in fact, the family Balaenidae has been the subject of great taxonometric debate. Authorities have repeatedly recategorized the three populations of right whale plus the bowhead whale, as one, two, three or four species, either in a single genus or in two separate genera. In the early whaling days, they were all thought to be
12120-586: The ring. Ring species thus present a difficulty for any species concept that relies on reproductive isolation. However, ring species are at best rare. Proposed examples include the herring gull – lesser black-backed gull complex around the North pole, the Ensatina eschscholtzii group of 19 populations of salamanders in America, and the greenish warbler in Asia, but many so-called ring species have turned out to be
12240-508: The same species. This concept was narrowed in 2006 to a similarity of 98.7%. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) method quantifies genetic distance between entire genomes , using regions of about 10,000 base pairs . With enough data from genomes of one genus, algorithms can be used to categorize species, as for Pseudomonas avellanae in 2013, and for all sequenced bacteria and archaea since 2020. Observed ANI values among sequences appear to have an "ANI gap" at 85–95%, suggesting that
12360-529: The same species. When two species names are discovered to apply to the same species, the older species name is given priority and usually retained, and the newer name considered as a junior synonym, a process called synonymy . Dividing a taxon into multiple, often new, taxa is called splitting . Taxonomists are often referred to as "lumpers" or "splitters" by their colleagues, depending on their personal approach to recognising differences or commonalities between organisms. The circumscription of taxa, considered
12480-470: The sounds is not known but may be a form of communication between whales within the same group. Northern right whales responded to sounds similar to police sirens —sounds of much higher frequency than their own. On hearing the sounds, they moved rapidly to the surface. The research was of particular interest because northern rights ignore most sounds, including those of approaching boats. Researchers speculate this information may be useful in attempts to reduce
12600-530: The southern species, at least, has been known to cross the equator . In the Northern Hemisphere, right whales tend to avoid open waters and stay close to peninsulas and bays and on continental shelves , as these areas offer greater shelter and an abundance of their preferred foods. In the Southern Hemisphere, right whales feed far offshore in summer, but a large portion of the population occur in near-shore waters in winter. Right whales feed mainly on copepods but also consume krill and pteropods . They may forage
12720-506: The species concept and making taxonomy unstable. Yet others defend this approach, considering "taxonomic inflation" pejorative and labelling the opposing view as "taxonomic conservatism"; claiming it is politically expedient to split species and recognise smaller populations at the species level, because this means they can more easily be included as endangered in the IUCN red list and can attract conservation legislation and funding. Unlike
12840-579: The strong fidelity of mothers to their feeding and calving grounds. The mother passes these instincts to her calves. Right whales swim slowly, reaching only 5 kn (9.3 km/h) at top speed. However, they are highly acrobatic and frequently breach (jump clear of the sea surface), tail-slap and lobtail . The right whales' diets consist primarily of zooplankton , primarily the tiny crustaceans called copepods , as well as krill , and pteropods , although they are occasionally opportunistic feeders. As with other baleens, they feed by filtering prey from
12960-486: The study of molluscs. He was an associate of entomologist Eliza Fanny Staveley , supporting her research and reading papers she had prepared to the Linnean and Zoological Societies of London. John Edward Gray was buried at St Mary's Church, Lewisham . Gray was one of the most prolific taxonomists in the history of zoology. He described more than 300 species and subspecies of reptiles, only surpassed by his successors at
13080-450: The surface, underwater or even the ocean bottom. During courtship, males gather into large groups to compete for a single female, suggesting that sperm competition is an important factor in mating behavior. Gestation tends to last a year, and calves are weaned at eight months old. Right whales were a preferred target for whalers because of their docile nature, their slow surface-skimming feeding behaviors, their tendency to stay close to
13200-463: The trade after the war failed. Basque shore whaling continued sporadically into the 19th century. "Yankee whalers" from the new American colonies replaced the Basques. Setting out from Nantucket, Massachusetts , and Long Island, New York , they took up to a hundred animals in good years. By 1750, the commercial hunt of the North Atlantic right whale was essentially over. The Yankee whalers moved into
13320-544: The water. They swim with an open mouth, filling it with water and prey. The whale then expels the water, using its baleen plates to retain the prey. Prey must occur in sufficient numbers to trigger the whale's interest, be large enough that the baleen plates can filter it, and be slow enough that it cannot escape. The "skimming" may take place on the surface, underwater, or even at the seabed, indicated by mud occasionally observed on right whales' bodies. The right whales' two known predators are humans and orcas . When danger lurks,
13440-546: The west to the Gulf of Alaska in the east, generally north of 50°N . Today, sightings are very rare and generally occur in the mouth of the Sea of Okhotsk and in the eastern Bering Sea . Although this species is very likely to be migratory like the other two species, its movement patterns are not known. The last major population review of southern right whales by the International Whaling Commission
13560-540: The wild. It is difficult to define a species in a way that applies to all organisms. The debate about species concepts is called the species problem. The problem was recognised even in 1859, when Darwin wrote in On the Origin of Species : I was much struck how entirely vague and arbitrary is the distinction between species and varieties. He went on to write: No one definition has satisfied all naturalists; yet every naturalist knows vaguely what he means when he speaks of
13680-665: The winter months (July–October), southern right whales come so close to the shoreline, visitors can watch whales from strategically placed hotels. The town employs a "whale crier" ( cf. town crier ) to walk through the town announcing where whales have been seen. In Brazil, Imbituba in Santa Catarina has been recognized as the National Right Whale Capital and holds annual Right Whale Week celebrations in September when mothers and calves are more often seen. The old whaling station there has been converted to
13800-499: Was a British zoologist . He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The standard author abbreviation J.E.Gray is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name . The same is used for a zoological name . Gray was keeper of zoology at the British Museum in London from 1840 until Christmas 1874, before
13920-591: Was a founder of what became the Royal Entomological Society . Gray was a friend of coleopterist Hamlet Clark , and in 1856–57 they sailed on Gray's yacht Miranda to Spain, Algeria, and Brazil. Gray was an accomplished watercolourist, and his landscape paintings illustrate Clark's account of their journeys. Gray was also interested in postage stamps . On 1 May 1840, the day the Penny Black first went on sale, he purchased several with
14040-429: Was a new mother who had just reached sexual maturity in 1935), she was nearly 70 years to more than 100 years of age, if not older. Research on the closely related bowhead whale exceeding 210 years suggests this lifespan is not uncommon and may even be exceeded. In the early centuries of shore-based whaling before 1712, right whales were virtually the only catchable large whales, for three reasons: Basque people were
14160-434: Was in 1998. Researchers used data about adult female populations from three surveys (one in each of Argentina, South Africa and Australia) and extrapolated to include unsurveyed areas and estimated counts of males and calves (using available male:female and adult:calf ratios), giving an estimated 1997 population of 7,500 animals. More recent data from 2007 indicate those survey areas have shown evidence of strong recovery, with
14280-539: Was made official when on December 8, 2008, NOAA issued a press release that included the following: In 2020, NOAA published its assessment and found that since the speed rule was adopted, the total number of documented deaths from vessel strike decreased but serious and non-serious injuries have increased. A report by the organization Oceana found that between 2017 and 2020, disobedience of the rule reached close to 90% in mandatory speed zones while in voluntary areas, disobedience neared 85%. The leading cause of death among
14400-423: Was the discovery that the North Pacific and North Atlantic populations are also distinct, and that the North Pacific species is more closely related to the southern right whale than to the North Atlantic right whale. The authors of one of these studies concluded that these species have not interbred for between 3 million and 12 million years. In 2001, Brownell et al . reevaluated the conservation status of
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