Scientific Name
Delphinapterus leucas
Description
Beluga whales have stout bodies, well-defined necks and a disproportionately small head. They have thick skins, short but broad paddle-shaped flippers, and sharp teeth. Unlike other whales, the beluga doesn’t have a dorsal fin. Belugas average 3 to 5 metres in length and weigh between 500 and 1,500 kilograms. Male whales have a marked upward curve at the top of their flippers.
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Range
There are five groups of beluga found in Canadian waters, including the St. Lawrence River population. The other four populations are: the Cumberland Sound population, which is threatened, Eastern High Arctic/Baffin Bay, which is of special concern, and both the Ungava Bay population and the Eastern Hudson Bay population, which are both listed as endangered.
Diet
Belugas eat octopus, squid, crabs, shrimp, clams, mussels, snails, sandworms, and fishes. To navigate and catch prey, belugas use a series of clicking sounds that bounce off fish and other objects in the water. This is called echo-location. The resulting echoes enable the belugas to build an accurate picture of what’s around them.
Behaviour
Males reach sexual maturity at 12 to 14 years, while females become sexually mature from 8 to 14 years of age. Belugas breed about every three years, between April and June. A female gives birth to one calf (about 1.5 m long) around July or August, after a gestation period of 14.5 months.
References
Hinterland Who's Who
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/beluga-whale
This content is from Hinterland Who's Who, a joint program between the Canadian Wildlife Federation and Environment and Climate Change Canada. For more species fact sheets, videos and sound clips, please visit hww.ca