kanaloa

Narwhals

Narwhal

(Monodon monoceros)

Narwhals are inhabitants of Arctic seas and under favorable open-water conditions wander along the Arctic coasts of the Old and New Worlds .
The male Narwhal differs from all other whales and porpoises in having the left upper jaw armed with a clockwise spirally twisted tusk, which occasionally measures more than nine feet . The Narwhal never has been known to use its tusk as a weapon. The tusks were first taken to Europe as articles of trade by Norsemen from Iceland and Greenland.
Narwhals generally migrate in large herds. In the spring when the ice is rotten and cracked, they frequent the openings, apparently to escape being attacked by Killer Whales' The calves, which are gray, and five feet in, length at birth, remain with the mother for a long time. The shrill whistle made by the Narwhal just as it bobs up out of the water may result from forcing the respiratory blast through the water. The deep roar or short low pitched blast sometimes heard may be made by the nostrils of a mother calling to her calf.
Cuttlefish, skate, turbot, rock cod, salmon trout, sea scorpions, and shrimps have been found in Narwhal stomachs, and small halibut and flounders are among their favorite foods. Fish are crushed between the jaws and swallowed without mastication, since there are no functional teeth.

back to h2o