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In whales, callosities are rough, calcified skin patches found on the heads of the three species of right whales. Callosities are a characteristic feature of the whale genus Eubalaena . Because they are found on the head of the whale and appear white against the dark background of the whale's skin, they allow the reliable identification of ...
North Pacific right whale in Half Moon Bay, California, 20 March 1982, photo by Jim Scarff. The right whales were first classified in the genus Balaena in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, who at the time considered all of the right whales (including the bowhead) as a single species. Through the 19th and 20th centuries, in fact, the family Balaenidae has ...
Calluses (plantar in right foot and medial in left foot) A callus (pl.: calluses) is an area of thickened and sometimes hardened skin that forms as a response to repeated friction, pressure, or other irritation. Since repeated contact is required, calluses are most often found on the feet and hands, but they may occur anywhere on the skin.
Right whales have rotund bodies with arching rostrums, V-shaped blowholes and dark gray or black skin. The most distinguishing feature of a right whale is the rough patches of skin on its head, which appear white due to parasitism by whale lice .
The right whale's callosities provide habitat for large colonies of cyamids or whale lice, which feed on the right whale's skin as these small crustaceans cannot survive in open water. [13] The relationship between cyamids and right whales is symbiotic in nature but is poorly understood by scientists.
With a population estimated at between 300-350 individuals, [19] the North Atlantic right whale is the most critically endangered great whale. The Northern Pacific right whale is also endangered with only about 500 individuals extant. [16] [17] The Southern right whale (~7500 individuals in 1997) and the Bowhead whale (20,000 to 40,000) have ...
New estimate for endangered right whale population in 2023 shows a slight increase, but scientists fear it could be temporary after a deadly 2024
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 a single species, Balaena mysticetus .