Common name: North Atlantic Right Whale or Biscayan Right Whale.

Scientific name: Eubalaena glacialis (Müller, 1776)

Family: Balaenidae

Distribution and Habitat: Its presence in the region is rare. It occurs preferentially in coastal and shallower waters.

Description: Its body is very wide and round, it has no dorsal fin, and the colouration of the body is dark grey or black, with white spots possibly appearing in ventral region. The head has whitish calluses and the contour line around its mouth is strongly curved. It shows its tail fluke when it dives and it reaches 17 m in length and weights 90000 Kg.

Conservation statute and Threats: This world wide endangered species is not evaluated in the region. The population of the North-East Atlantic is considered to be almost extinct.

Observations: The only documented observation of this species in the Madeira waters goes back to the 27th of February 1967.