The fibrous material which hangs from the upper jaw of some whales. It is used to sieve small fish and sea animals from the water, which these whales feed on.
BARNACLE:
A member of the group of marine crustaceans called 'cirripedia.' The animal lives in a hard shell and attaches itself to objects such as rocks, the hulls of ships or to slow-moving marine animals including whales. They feed on tiny food particles which they trap using whip-like tentacles called 'cirri.'
BASQUE:
A people which live in the areas of France and Spain that border the Bay of Biscay. Predominantly Roman Catholic, the Basques were traditionally small farmers, seafarers and shipbuilders. Today, they have a measure of autonomy in Spain, but a guerrilla group using terrorist tactics is fighting for independence.
BLOW:
The column of moist, stale air which the whale breathes out.
BLOW HOLE:
The whale's nostril through which it inhales and exhales. Baleen whales have two blowholes and toothed whales have one.
BLUBBER:
The layer of fat in a whale between the muscle and the skin. This insulates the whale from cold polar waters and makes it buoyant.
CATCHER BOAT:
Usually, a small open boat from which the whale was harpooned in the early days of whaling.
CETACEAN:
A member of the order of aquatic mammals containing about 80 species of dolphins, porpoises and whales
DIATOM:
A microscopic, single-celled algae known as 'Phylum bacillariophyta.' A pigment in diatoms called 'fucoxanthin' gives them a yellow-brown color. Diatoms form part of marine and freshwater plankton with other types of algae.
DORSAL FIN:
The fin found on the back fishes and marine mammals. It is usually small, and helps the animal steer when swimming.
FACTORY SHIP:
A Norwegian-invented floating factory for butchering and processing dead whales.
FLENSE (-ING):
From a Norwegian word meaning to cut up a seal or whale. A flensing deck is where this takes place on a ship.
FLUKES:
The lobes of a whale's tail.
HANSEATIC:
Of, or relating to, the Hanseatic League, an alliance of north German cities formed in 1241 as a trading association. In the Middle Ages, the League became an independent political power in its own right with an army and a navy.
HARPOON:
A hand-thrown spear used for killing whales. The explosive harpoon which could be fired from a gun was a later invention.
INUIT:
Also known as Eskimo, a Mongoloid people who make up the main native population of the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Siberia. They have traditionally hunted whales and still continue to hunt a small number. Whale meat forms an important part of their diet.
KERATIN:
A component of animal claws, hooves, horn and human fingernails. Baleen is made of keratin.
KRILL:
A shrimp-like crustacean, measuring up to two inches which is very important in the diets of various birds, fishes and whales - particularly blue and fin whales.
LEAGUE OF NATIONS:
A predecessor to the United Nations, the League of Nations was created in 1920 to preserve the peace and settle international disputes by arbitration. The body was formed after a number of prominent figures had promoted such an organization during World War I, notably, President Woodrow Wilson of the United States.
MORATORIUM:
An indefinite ban. The moratorium on commercial whaling was introduced in 1986.
OZONE LAYER:
A layer of oxygen located in the atmosphere between 20 and 50 miles above the earth's surface. The oxygen of the ozone layer is different from the common form of the molecule- it has three atoms instead of two. This layer of gas absorbs harmful shortwave ultraviolet radiation from the sun that is otherwise lethal to all life on earth.
PIGMENT:
The natural coloring matter of animal or plant tissue i.e. chlorophyll, hemoglobin.
PINNIPEDIA:
A suborder of aquatic mammals whose limbs are known as 'fin-foots.' Both seals and walruses are pinnipeds.
PLANKTON:
Collective term for all forms of tiny animal and plant life in marine or freshwater environments, which provide essential food for fish, marine mammals, sea birds, etc. Phytoplankton, for example, is minute plants (mostly algae) that float on the water on which all animal life in the open sea depends for food.
RORQUAL:
Five species of baleen whales distinguished by their pleated throats, which allow them to take in huge volumes of water and food. The word comes from an old Norwegian word meaning 'grooves,' which is based on the Old Icelandic 'reythr' + 'hvalr.'
STERN:
The back of a boat.
VERTEBRAL COLUMN:
The backbone of an animal formed from interlocking segments of bone.
