Bowhead Whale

Balaena mysticetus

The bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) is an Arctic baleen whale built for cold water, sea ice, and long seasonal darkness. It has a massive arched upper jaw, no dorsal fin, thick blubber, and long baleen plates used to filter tiny crustaceans from the water. Bowheads can break thin ice to breathe and are among the longest-lived mammals known, with some individuals estimated to live well over a century and potentially more than 200 years. Populations move with ice conditions and feeding opportunities across Arctic and subarctic seas.

Bowhead whale stewardship is field-based, not captive. Research teams use aerial surveys, acoustic recorders, genetics, photo-identification, and local ecological knowledge to estimate numbers and movement. In some Arctic communities, Indigenous subsistence harvest is regulated and culturally important, with monitoring tied to population assessments. Conservation planning also accounts for ship traffic, underwater noise, oil and gas activity, entanglement, and changing ice patterns. Because bowheads live so long and reproduce slowly, careful trend data matters more than quick impressions from any single season.