Species guide
North Atlantic right whale
Eubalaena glacialis
At a glance
Conservation, taxonomy and Madeira records reviewed . Review sources.
- Global IUCN conservation status
- Critically Endangered — assessment published .
Global extinction risk is separate from sighting frequency in Madeira.
- Identification
- Large, uniformly dark, rotund and finless body with very big round head covered in callosities (looking like white patches).
- Large, paddle-shaped flippers and pointed flukes with distinct notch in the middle.
- Size
- Maximum length: 18.3 m
- Recorded occurrence in Madeira
- Historical catches documented in 1959 and 1967; no recent local record verified in this review.
- Madeira records and season
- No dependable seasonal window established by the cited records.
Identification and size summarize profile notes updated . Local records are past observations, not a prediction of sightings.
Read the identification notes ↓- Taxonomic authority
- (Müller, 1776)
- Family
- Balaenidae
- Cetacean group
- Mysticeti
Sightings in Madeira
Madeira's documented records are historical catches in 1959 and 1967. Freitas et al. (2012) found no later records through their December 2012 cutoff. This review found no right-whale entry in the site's trip-report archive. These historical catch dates do not establish a sighting season or prove absence today.
ID characteristics
Large, uniformly dark, rotund and finless body with very big round head covered in callosities (looking like white patches).
Large, paddle-shaped flippers and pointed flukes with distinct notch in the middle.
Surface behaviour
Slow swimmer often exposing huge head.
Frequently inquisitive, approachable and demonstrative of its acrobacies
Distribution
Mainly in the North Atlantic, between parallels 60º and 30º North.
In cold waters of temperate and subpolar region of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Social
Alone or in groups up to 20 individuals
Diet
Krill and crustaceans
Biometrics
Max length: 18.3 m
Adult weight: 30 to 80 ton
Blow
Wide V-shaped up to 5 meters high
Common names in other languages
- Portuguese: Baleia-franca-do-Atlântico-Norte
- German: Atlantischer Nordkaper
- French: Baleine franche de l'Atlantique Nord, Baleine de Biscaye, Baleine des Basques
- Spanish: Ballena franca del Atlántico Norte, Ballena franca glacial
- Italian: Balena franca nordatlantica
- Dutch: Noordkaper
- Polish: Wieloryb biskajski, wal biskajski
- Swedish: Nordkapare
- Danish: Nordkaper, Biscayahval, Nordhval
- Norwegian: Nordkaper
Other English names
Northern Right Whale
Names vary by language and region. This list is not exhaustive. Multilingual name records.
Review sources
Conservation, taxonomy, local occurrence and seasonality checked on . The assessment publication year is separate from this editorial review date. Identification, size, other biology notes and multilingual aliases are outside this review unless a specific source is cited alongside them.
- IUCN Red List: Eubalaena glacialis — global species assessment, published 2020.
- Society for Marine Mammalogy: species and subspecies list (April 2026) — Scientific names, authorities, families and English names. Mysticeti and Odontoceti are treated as unranked groups.
- IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group: Red List status of cetaceans — Global species categories cross-checked against the specialist group's overview, updated October 2025. Regional and subpopulation assessments are separate.
- IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group: first 2020 assessment updates — Global North Atlantic right whale and harbour porpoise assessments, and the Gulf of Corinth common dolphin subpopulation.
- Freitas et al. (2012): New records of cetacean species for Madeira Archipelago with an updated checklist — Table 1 and species accounts distinguish sightings, catches and strandings. Record totals and last-record dates describe evidence available through December 2012.
The linked trip reports document operator observations. They do not independently confirm every identification or measure population size, abundance or the probability of a sighting.