Nature Feature - Southern Right Whale

The Southern Right Whale

(Eubalagna glacialis).

The Southern Right Whale is a baleen whale which grows to a prodigious size - reaching 18 meters in length. Black and tear-drop in shape, they have no dorsal fin but possess a huge mouth containing bristly plates (baleen) instead of teeth for filtering plankton, small crustaceans and fish from the sea. The southern Right Whale can be easily identified by it's huge head, comprising one quarter of the body length, and the strange protuberances on its top and bottom jaws. These wart-like growths differ from one animal to the next, providing researchers with an identificaton system.

The whale is widely distributed throughout the oceans of the southern hemisphere and can be found along Australia's southern coastline. They are slow swimming and approach close to shore to breed and calve, a habit which made them easy targets for whalers of the past.

Their numbers were severely depleted by the whaling industry, which placed a high value on their oil and baleen. Baleen was used to make corset stays, skirt hoops and buggy whips. Until the early 1830's, whale oil and baleen were Australia's main exports, exceeding wool shipments.

Because of their long reproduction cycle (calving only once every three years), recovery has been a slow process. The Southern Right Whale, classified as 'vulnerable', remains an endangered species still under threat of extinction.

Source: Australia's Wilderness Heritage - Flora & Fauna, 1988.

The Southern Right Whale is featured on the following Australian coins:

1996 Silver Endangered Species $10 and Piedfort.