Beluga Whale

A white whale, the extremely social beluga lives in pods that usually have about a dozen members but may include hundreds. Dubbed a “sea canary,” the beluga has the loudest song of any toothed whale, with sounds that travel for miles and make boat hulls vibrate. But belugas sit at the top of a failing food chain. These Arctic whales can be found congregating at the edge of ice sheets foraging for Arctic cod, a fish unrivaled in abundance and nutrition for belugas. Cod swarm around ice sheets feeding on copepods, which are small crustaceans that eat sediment produced by ice algae. Lack of ice means less ice algae, which leaves all these marine species in the Arctic food chain without a meal.

Scientific name: Delphinapterus leucas
IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
Endangered Species List: Endangered (Cook Inlet population)
Region: Arctic, Oceans