In 2017, drone footage revealed narwhals stunning fish with their tusk before eating them.The dolphinfish (also known as the Mahi-mahi) is a large fish that can be found in warm tropical climates.ĭespite the name “dolphinfish” this fish is not related to the dolphin family at all and are not marine mammals, they are fish and like most fish they are cold-blooded, produce eggs and breathe using gills. They can ‘taste’ concentrations of chemicals and perhaps use their tusks to find food or females who are ready to mate. In 2014 researchers discovered that the tusk is a sensory organ – narwhals can use it to detect changes in the water around them. Some believe that males use them to attract females, showing off their ‘manliness’ through jousting matches, others have suggested that it’s used as an ice pick or even an acoustic probe. Quite honestly, we don’t know but theories abound. They are known by Inuits in Greenland as ‘qilalugaq qernartaq’ which means ‘the one that points to the sky’ and their Latin name is ‘Monodon monoceros’, meaning ‘one toothed’. They were given this name because their grey mottled bodies resembled the corpses of drowned sailors. ‘Narwhal’ translates from ancient Norse as ‘corpse-like whale’.
Their natural predators are polar bears, orcas and sharks and they have been hunted by Inuit for their skin, blubber and tusks for centuries.īecause they are so adapted to life in the polar ice, they are probably the whale species most affected by climate change. In the summer they migrate to coastal waters and fjords of Greenland and Canada moving offshore again in winter to avoid being trapped by ice. Narwhals live above the Arctic Circle right up to the polar ice cap. If you are a narwhal, home is the freezing pack ice of the Arctic. No one really knows if their tusk plays a role in hunting or feeding. They use echolocation to help them find food and have an interesting way of eating –creating a sort of vacuum and sucking up their food.
Narwhals are fond of flatfish, cod, shrimp and squid and species like crab that they find on the seabed during their long dives. The longest recorded narwhal dive is 1,500 metres.
Narwhals are one of the deepest diving whales and can hold their breaths for an amazing 25 minutes. We don’t know why they behave in this way but it’s sure to make perfect sense to them. Sometimes they float, motionless at the surface and occasionally they will all leap out of the water or dive at the same time. They travel together, swimming fast and close to the surface. Narwhals live in groups of 10 to 20 individuals but in the summer they come together in groups of hundreds or even thousands of whales to migrate. They have odd-shaped tail flukes that look as though they have been put on backwards. Narwhals have a blotchy sausage-shaped body, a rounded head with no beak, a ridge on their backs rather than a fin and short blunt flippers with upcurled edges. Most females don’t have a tusk and they look a bit like mottled grey beluga whales. The most obvious thing to say is that males have a massive tusk which can grow up to 10 feet long.
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