Big-headed, deep-diving, and surprisingly curious, the Northern bottlenose whale is the beaked whale most people are likely to meet in the North Atlantic. Its look is unforgettable: a long, bottle-shaped beak; a small, curved fin set far back; and a large, rounded forehead—the “melon”—that swells with age. Older males often turn pale on the face, as if wearing a white helmet.
Unlike dolphins with many teeth, this whale usually shows only two small teeth at the tip of the lower jaw, and they’re most visible in adult males. That’s because it doesn’t grab prey the way a dolphin does. It feeds by suction: flaring the lips, opening wide, and vacuuming in squid and fish in a quick gulp. The result is neat, fast, and perfect for life in dark water, where a chase would waste precious oxygen.
Diving is where this species shines. Northern bottlenose whales can slip well over a kilometer down and stay there for more than an hour, hunting in cold, black canyons where sunlight never reaches. Before a dive, they breathe calmly at the surface, often “logging” like a floating pole as they top up their oxygen stores.
Sound is their flashlight. They send out quick clicks and read the echoes (echolocation) to find squid and to map steep seafloor walls. When a dive ends, they rise in a smooth glide, take a few soft blows that puff forward like steam from a bottle, and then rest again. These whales favor deep edges—submarine canyons and steep slopes off places like Newfoundland, Iceland, and Norway—places rich in squid but far from shore.
Distribution
Atlantic Ocean
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Faroe Islands
France
Germany
Greenland
Iceland
Ireland
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Svalbard
Sweden
United Kingdom
United StatesAnything we've missed?
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Terrestrial / Aquatic
Altricial / Precocial
Polygamous / Monogamous
Dimorphic (size) / Monomorphic
Active: Diurnal / Nocturnal
Social behavior: Solitary / Pack / Group
Diet: Carnivore / Herbivore / Omnivore / Piscivorous / Insectivore
Migratory: Yes / No
Domesticated: Yes / No
Dangerous: Yes / No
