Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas 1776)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Cetacea, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 723-743 : 735

Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas 1776)

[Delphinus] leucas Pallas 1776 , Reise Prov. Russ. Reichs, Vol. 3, 1: 85 [footnote].

Type Locality: NE Siberia, "die im Obischen Meerbusen" (= mouth of Ob River).

Vernacular Names: Beluga.

Synonyms: Delphinapterus albicans (Lacépède 1804) ; Delphinapterus beluga Lacépède 1804 ; Delphinapterus catodon ( Gray 1846) ; Delphinapterus dorofeevi Barabash and Klumov 1935 ; Delphinapterus marisalbi Ostroumov 1935 .

Distribution: Circumpolar in Arctic seas; Okhotsk and Bering Seas; northern Gulf of Alaska (Cook Inlet); Gulf of St. Lawrence: arctic to cold-temperate waters; occasionally strays south to Honshu, Japan; France; and Massachusetts, USA.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix II; IUCN – Vulnerable.

Discussion: Reviewed by Kleinenberg et al. (1969), T. G. Smith et al. (1990), Stewart and Stewart (1989, Mammalian Species, 336) and Brodie (1989).