Ocean Life in Alaska
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Bowhead Whale
Balaena mysticetusWhere do bowhead whales live?
There are four geographically distinct populations of bowhead whales. The Western Arctic (or Bering–Chukchi–Beaufort population) found around Alaska; Okhotsk Sea population in eastern Russia; Davis Strait and Hudson Bay population in northeastern Canada (sometimes considered separate stocks); and Spitsbergen population in the North Atlantic.
What do bowhead whales eat?
Bowhead whales prefer copepods and euphausiids, plus mysids and gammarid amphipods. Bowhead whales are eaten by humans (Homo sapiens) and killer whales (Orcinus orca). Scars from killer whale teeth were found on 4% to 8% of the whales taken in the subsistence hunt by Alaskan Eskimos.
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