Newest Whale Species Already on its Last Legs

Rice's whale, found only in the Gulf of Mexico and described in 2021, is  already critically endangered. Marine biologists are wondering what can be done to save the whales, if anything.

The whale was first seen in 1965, but for decades it was thought to be a subspecies of Bryde’s whale. Genetic analyses has now determined that Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei) is a distinct species, and that it is on its last legs, so to speak.

There are only 51 surviving individuals, beset by all kinds of threats: vessel strikes, military training activities (especially those making acoustic disturbances), entanglement in commercial fishing nets, and pollution from oil spills, agricultural runoff, and any other muck that gets flushed into the Gulf. It is estimated that the Gulf oil spill in 2010 killed off 17 percent of the population and sickened another 18 percent.

The besieged whale can grow to 40 feet in length and weigh as much as 30 tons, but little is known about its diet. Unlike its doppelganger Bryde’s whale that feeds near the sea surface these whales spend a lot of time in deep water and we just don’t know what it’s eating.

Scientists are trying to get a handle on the whale’s diet (and a more precise idea of its range within the Gulf) in order to concoct a recovery plan for the species. Complicating that endeavor is a proposed massive Gulf Coast deepwater oil-export facility off the coast of Texas, the Sea Port Oil Terminal, also known as SPOT. 

Last month a coalition of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, filed a lawsuit to thwart SPOT’s construction. The Center said the project “ignored new information about risks to Rice’s whales, among the most endangered marine mammals on Earth,” in its statement announcing the lawsuit.

With a massive oil-drilling project on one side and 51 endangered whales on the other, the prospects for the newly discovered whale look bleak.

Photo credit: NOAA