Belu'ga

Belu'ga, or WHITE WHALE (Beluga or Delphinapterus leucas), one of the dolphin family, closely related to the narwhal. The body is from 12 to 16 feet in length, of graceful proportions, and remarkable for its creamy-white colour, and for the absence of a dorsal fin, which is represented only by a slight ridge. The flippers are short; the head is arched, and sinks abruptly to the short rounded snout; the teeth are small and conical, comparatively few in number (8 to 10 on each half-jaw), somewhat distant from one another, absent posteriorly, and often falling out in the adults. It is a markedly gregarious animal, associating in droves of both sexes. The female shows great solicitude for her young. These are at first of a bluish-gray colour. The white whales feed on fishes, which they often follow far up the rivers—e.g. the St Lawrence and the Amur. According to Eschricht, they also eat cuttle-fishes. They are fearless sportive animals, and have been successfully kept in aquaria. Their headquarters are round Greenland, but they occur all over the Arctic seas, often going as far south as the St Lawrence. They only rarely appear on British coasts. The Greenlanders capture them in the fiords by means of strong nets, or by harpooning, though the comparatively soft skin often fails to retain the weapon. The flesh is largely eaten, the fat yields very fine oil, the skin is made into leather, and some of the internal membranes are also utilised. This name is also applied to a great Russian sturgeon (the Bielaga or Huso). See CETACEA, DOLPHIN, NARWHAL, WHALE.