09/15/2023
Photographer & diver Brian Skerry beside the magnificently massive southern right whale.
There's an estimated 12,000 southern right whales spread throughout the southern hemisphere. They have started to recover from centuries of commercial hunting, unlike their endangered cousins in the Northern hemisphere. Right whales were named by whalers who identified them as the "right" whale to hunt, because they floated when they were killed.
North Atlantic right whales are one of the most endangered large whale species in the world, and the biggest threats they face are large ships and fishing gear, which can cause collisions and severe entanglement-related injuries, and ocean noise pollution.
