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The North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is a species of baleen whale found in both Endless Ocean and Endless Ocean 2.
It is a large grey whale that is endangered due to being hunted by humans for its blubber, oil, and bone. It has no dorsal fin, which makes its back look quite smooth.
In-Game[]
Marine Encyclopedia[]
Endless Ocean[]
Description[]
“These mammals have black, spindle-shaped bodies with large heads. Their lower jaw is bowed into a high arch shape. They can be seen year-round in the Wild Channel.
Their heads are covered in large protrusions, with those at the tip of its upper jaw particularly large. Human researchers use these as a means of identifying individual whales. Their smooth, sleek-looking backs are a result of their lack of dorsal fins.
They swim slowly and have a very thick layer of blubber. This causes them to almost always float near the surface, even after death. For these reasons, they were an easy target for whalers in search of blubber and meat. This led to drastic overhunting and a sharp decline in their numbers. They have since become a protected species.”
Endless Ocean 2[]
Description[]
"Its lower jaw is curved in an arc, and it has a beautifully smooth back with no dorsal fin. It has protrusions on its head, and the particularly large ones on the tip of its snout can be used to distinguish individual whales."
[Suffering of the Right Whale][]
"It is a slow swimmer and its blubber causes it to float on the surface even after it dies; these traits made it an attractive target for whalers, as they could harvest large quantities of oil and whalebone.
As a result, their numbers fell and they have become a protected species, on the brink of extinction in some areas. However, numbers are recovering in other areas, so conservation is having an effect for this species."
Dialogue[]
Endless Ocean[]
Katherine: "It's strange to find a whale in a spot like this. Look at that curvy body. It must be an Atlantic northern right whale. It's very rare for them to get so close to land. I wonder what it's doing here?"
Location[]
Endless Ocean[]
A solitary North Atlantic right whale can be seen all year round in the Wild Channel area.
Endless Ocean 2[]
A North Atlantic right whale can be found in Ciceros Strait around the Triton Village Ruins and South Canyon; it doesn't appear until a cutscene is triggered. In South Canyon, a part of its route brings it out of the bounds of the stage. During the story, one appears outside the windows of Valka Castle.
Behavior[]
In Endless Ocean, the North Atlantic right whale patrols back and forth through Wild Channel in a formation vaguely resembling a figure-8, turning around in the wider sections to either end. In Endless Ocean 2, it tends to stay close to the South Canyon area, never venturing particularly far outside it. At one point in the storyline, the one outside of the windows of Valka Castle sings the Song of Dragons, which triggers a mechanism that traps the player and Oceana inside of the King's Chamber.
In both games, it reacts positively to the sound of the Sea Whistle, which is how the player can unlock its trivia information in the second game. In the first game, however, its information can also be unlocked by petting it, or sometimes by feeding it.
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- During the opening segment of the second game, and right before the player enters the Cavern of the Gods later in the story, a few North Atlantic right whales can be seen swimming north of the Echoing Terrace.
Real-Life Information[]
- The North Atlantic right whale has been designated as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature[1]. It is one of the world's most endangered large whale species, with only about 400 specimens remaining in the wild[2][3]. Entanglement in fishing gear and being struck by ships are two of the greatest threats to population recovery[4][5]; however, there have been cases wherein instances of the former have been resolved by scientists using sedation to placate the whale while the offending gear is removed[6].
- Definite measurements concerning average age for North Atlantic right whales is scarce, but the oldest recorded individual hit an estimate of about 70 years old when last spotted[4].
- Since 2017, there have been elevated levels of North Atlantic right whale mortality to such a level that it qualifies as something known as an Unusual Mortality Event, or UME[7]. A UME is "a stranding event that is unexpected, involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population, and demands immediate response", as defined in the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972[8].
- North Atlantic right whales are also sometimes called Northern right whales, Biscayan right whales, or black right whales[9][10].
- The whales with the largest proportion of blubber in their bodies are right whales; the North Atlantic right whale is, of course, no exception[11]. Blubber in marine mammals is an important layer of fat that helps aid in storing energy, managing body temperature, and maintaining buoyancy[12].
- The North Atlantic right whale is one of three species of right whale[13]; the other two do not appear in either game. They are the North Pacific right whale, Eubalaena japonica, and the Southern right whale, Eubalaena australis[2]. Right whales are what species in the genus Eubalaena are commonly called[14].
Bottlenose Dolphin
• Pacific White-Sided Dolphin
• Short-Beaked Common Dolphin
Commerson's Dolphin
• Orca
• Risso's Dolphin
• Beluga
• False Killer Whale
• Narwhal
Spectacled Porpoise
• Amazon River Dolphin
• Southern Bottlenose Whale
• Humpback Whale
North Atlantic Right Whale
• Pygmy Sperm Whale
• Antarctic Minke Whale
• Gray Whale
Sperm Whale
• Blue Whale
- ↑ IUCN Red List
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 NOAA Fisheries
- ↑ Smithsonian Ocean
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Fisheries and Oceans Canada
- ↑ Oceana
- ↑ ScienceDaily
- ↑ NOAA Fisheries: 2017–2020 North Atlantic Right Whale Unusual Mortality Event
- ↑ NOAA: UME
- ↑ MarineBio
- ↑ U.S. Whale and Dolphin Conservation
- ↑ Animal Diversity Web
- ↑ National Geographic (Blubber)
- ↑ "Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1"
- ↑ National Geographic (Right Whales)