Beluga: the Almost Extinct Big Fish

(Movie)
Beluga
The Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) and Beluga (beluga, Russian for "white", the altnd. "Bela 'and' bala 'white) is a kind of Gründelwale, in the arctic and sub-arctic waters alive. Like the closely related Narwale they have no backing Finn; striking is the bluish-white to cremeweiße coloring.

Appearance of the white whales
The total length of the whale is between three and a maximum of six metres with a weight of 400 to a maximum of 1,000 kilograms, while the males are usually larger and heavier than females. The bulky body and is particularly in the shoulder area rectangular unloading. The head is relatively short and wears a vorgewölbte thickening (melon), which over the course of life formed. The neck is usually good with a neck section to recognize and the head is unverwachsene cervical quite flexible. The Fluke (tail) is relatively wide and with the age of the animals increasingly ginkgoförmig. The Flipper (chest fins) are rounded rectangular, the outside edge rolls in older animals. The eyes are very small and are close behind the mouth angles, the Ohröffnung is almost not visible. Shortly before the neck is the crescent-shaped blow hole.

As with all whales is the glabrous skin and has a fairly thick upper layer. The epidermis is the white whales between 5 and 12 centimeters thick and is thus also for whales above average, as is the underlying layers. The subcutaneous tissue is a layer of fat that are dependent on the nutritional status, sex and time of year between 2 and 22 centimeters thick. The teats of the females are in special bags and are only for old or lactating animals visible.

Your name received the white whales by their coloration, in the course of her life changes. For newborn white whales tend to brown and slate received about a year after a blaugraue coloring, which they do for the fifth year of life reserve. During this time, they are known as "blues". Then the animals are completely white with a bluish shimmer especially among females remain. Since the Belugas often at the Packeisgrenze resident has their white coloration in the course of evolution probably as camouflage protection against Eisbärattacken developed.

An important feature of the white whales are the teeth. They are evenly conical and the front teeth are particularly at the young forward invention. Of these white whales have teeth in the upper jaw 10 to 22, in the lower jaw 6 to 22, a distinction in various tooth types is like all whales tooth is not possible.

Dissemination
The Beluga is the most polar and sub-polar waters encountered, especially on the coasts of Alaska, Canada and Russia. The deposits are located in the southernmost Ochotskischen Sea and the Japanese Sea in Asia and in the area of the St. Lawrence River in Canada. In Europe, the deposits only on the extreme north of Norway in the Varanger Fjord, in the Barents Sea, on the Kola Peninsula and the island groups Franz-Joseph country and Svalbard. Sporadic findings are also to Iceland, the UK and even from the Baltic. On 18 May 1966 was a single animal 400 km upstream even in the Rhine sighted. After the Moby Dick called Wal over several weeks in the reprisals by interested biologists escape, he swam 16 June 1966 escorted by two police vehicles back into the sea.


Immigration into rivers at the Beluga is very often observed. So it was also in the Loire, in the Elbe and in almost all Siberian rivers to individuals or small groups. This immigration is usually associated with the seasonal migration of the animals or their meetings before mating to the estuaries. These hikes within their territory of all populations can be observed. They are likely to find feeding grounds, or mating sites Kalbungsorten.

The world stock of the Belugas is probably at about 80,000 to 100,000 animals.

Lifestyles of the white whales
The white whales prefer as a habitat quiet coastal areas with moderate depth, particularly bays, or the mouth of major rivers. The surf belt of the seas will be shunned. Frequently, they are also in Treibeisbereich or on the edge of the pack ice to find the open sea they are likely to happen only during their walks.

White whales feed almost exclusively on animal food. It is the composition of their food under the previously studied whales most diversified dar. Altogether, over a hundred different animals known to feed, which range from about Hohltieren squid, shellfish, crustaceans and worms links to larger fish such as bone Dorschen and salmon. The food, the whales, especially in shallow ocean depths of up to ten meters by the soil organisms sniffing, but they also can also hunt in the open water. The maximum diving depth is documented at about 200 meters, but they are most likely seldom achieved. The nutritional composition is changing at the white whales with age. Is it in the newborn, and the "blues" are still mainly from the sand crabs and shrimp (Crangon genus), they move with increasing age more in the direction of the fish.

Beluga: the Almost Extinct Big Fish

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