Marine mammals. The seas surrounding Norway are rich in fish, which are due to ideal conditions for the development of plankton in the summer. The abundance of food also attracts baleen whales, which feed on plankton, as well as toothed whales and seals, which mainly eat fish that eat plankton. Unfortunately, after many years of hunting whales in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Sea, several species of whales are on the verge of extinction. There is no indication of this, that the number of whales in this region will ever recover, the only exception is the pounding face.
Banging my face (minkehval) reach length 7 – 10 m and weigh 5-10 your. They are underwire, that is, instead of teeth, they have horn plates in their mouths. Minka sail between the Azores and Svalbard.
Seawals in danger of extinction [sei-whale), also belonging to the underwire, live off the coast of Finnmark. Their name comes from sei (fish from the leprechaun family), which also appear here during the season, to feed on plankton. The length of representatives of this species of cetaceans reaches 18 m, a waga – 30 your. During the annual migration, the seawals go to the seas of northwest Africa and Portugal for the winter, and in summer they return to the Norwegian Sea and the southern Barents Sea.
Finwal (fin whale) reaches length up to 24 m and weighs to 80 your. Finwals became the main hunting target after the invention of the w 1864 r. by Norwegian Sven Foyn a harpoon with an explosive charge. Illegal whalers have reduced the number of these animals in the Atlantic to several thousand. Finwals are also migrating animals: they spend the winter in the waters between Spain and southern Norway, and summer in the seas surrounding northern Norway, the islands of Jan Mayen and Svalbard.
The biggest animal in the world, blue whale (bl3hval), grows to 28 m in length, and its weight is as high as 110 your. The whales are killed because of the fat. W 1967 r. (much too late!) The International Whaling Commission has finally decided to protect them. In front of 1864 r. they lived 6000 – 9000 pieces. Currently, only a few hundred blue fins remain in the waters of the oceans, and for years 60. they were not seen in the seas around Norway.
Sperm whales (spermsetthval), measuring to 19 m and weighing to 50 your, characterized by "square” profile. They mainly eat fish and cephalopods, and they usually swim in counting herds 15-20 individuals. Sperm whales have been depleted by whalers because of the blubber and precious sperm whales (spermaceti – substance from the head of the sperm whale, valued in cosmetics for the scent of musk]. Fortunately, a few sperm whales come to the shoal-rich waters of Vesteralen and can be watched on specially organized boat trips.
A humpback whale can sometimes be found between Alesund and Varangerhałv0ya (long-finned, knoIhval), toothed whale, measuring to 15 m and weighing to 30 your. Humpback whales are among the most agile cetaceans. They often jump out of the water and hit it with their tail, then they make characteristic sounds. Nature has endowed the humpback whales with a loud voice: their low-pitched cries can be heard and recorded even from hundreds of miles away.
Bowhead whale (gr0tilandshval) was almost completely stamped out at the end of the 19th century., because it provided underwires, once necessary for the manufacture of corsets, fans and whips. W 1679 r. around Svalbard there were approx. 25 000 bowhead whales, now there are only a handful of them left.
Orcs, called swordfish, and murderers in many languages (killer whale), are the largest marine predators. These animals reach a length of up to 7 m and weigh to 5 your. There are approx. 1500. Killer whales swim in groups after 2 – 3 individuals. They feed on fish, seals, delfinami, porpoises and cetaceans (for example, a face), which may even be larger than themselves. Grindwal (grindhval), long-lobed whale, approx. 6 m, swimming in herds of up to several hundred individuals, occurs in the area up to the North Cape. White shafts, that is beluchs (hvithval), up to 4 m, they live mainly in the Arctic Sea, and they swim in herds of five to a dozen individuals.
White and gray narwhal (narhval), reaching to 3,5 m in length, has a distinctive, long on 2,7 m, spiral bone blow, which protrudes from under the male's upper lip. Kieł narwala, one of his two teeth, actually, was in great demand in the Middle Ages. (It goes! behind the corner of the mythical unicorn). Narwhals live mainly in the Arctic Sea, and from time to time they swim up the rivers in search of fresh water. Their herds count 15 – 20 individuals.
Butlo-noses also live near Norway, Atlantic white and common dolphins.
Seals can be found all over Norway on the seashore. The most important species are the harbor seal (stein-kobbe), grey seal (havert), foka Weddela [ring], grenland seal [granlandssel], hoodie (klappmyss) and seals wąsata [bldsel). Much bigger walrus (walrus), which is inhabited only by Svalbard, reaches length up to 4 m and weighs to 1300 kg. It can be recognized by its long fangs, called blows, which in males reach length 1 m. Although walruses were once intensely hunted for their fangs and fat, from 1952 r., when they were put under protection, their population in Svalbard reached approx. 1000 pieces