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Full-text Search for "right whale"
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right whale definitions
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)
n
1: large Arctic whalebone whale; allegedly the `right' whale to hunt because of its valuable whalebone and oil
Merriam Webster's
noun Date: 1725 any of a family (Balaenidae) of large baleen whales having very long baleen, a large head on a stocky body, a smooth throat, and short broad rounded flippers
Britannica Concise
Any of three species (genera Balaena and Caperea) of baleen whales (family Balaenidae) with a stout body and an enormous head. (The name refers to two species considered the "right" whales to hunt because of their value, slowness, and buoyancy after death.) The upper jaw is strongly arched, and the lower lip curves upward along the side, giving the lower jaw a scooplike form. There is no dorsal fin except in the pygmy right whale, a small, seldom-seen whale of the Southern Hemisphere. The bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), inhabiting Arctic and N temperate waters, is black, with a white chin, throat, and sometimes underparts. It grows to about 65 ft (20 m). The black right whale (B. glacialis) grows to 60 ft (18 m). Similar to the bowhead but with a smaller, less strongly arched head, it may also have a "bonnet," a horny growth infested with parasites, on its snout. Both species have been protected since 1946.
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
Right whale Right" whale` (Zo["o]l.) (a) The bowhead, Arctic, or Greenland whale (Bal[ae]na mysticetus), from whose mouth the best whalebone is obtained. (b) Any other whale that produces valuable whalebone, as the Atlantic, or Biscay, right whale (Bal[ae]na cisarctica), and the Pacific right whale (B. Sieboldii); a bone whale. Pygmy right whale (Zo["o]l.), a small New Zealand whale (Neobal[ae]na marginata) which is only about sixteen feet long. It produces short, but very elastic and tough, whalebone.
