• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Beluga Whale in the Thames

Vixen

Penultimate Amazing
Vixen
Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Messages
41,942
Location
Here, Beneath the North Star
The rare Beluga whale which found itself in the Thames is still frolicking about at Gravesend.

It seems concerning that after all this time, it hasn't made its way back to the sea.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-en...uga-whale-monitored-with-specialist-equipment

The rare beluga whale swimming in the River Thames off Gravesend is being monitored with specialist listening equipment in an attempt to find out if it's in distress.

The animal is thousands of miles away from its natural habitat and experts say they need to learn all they can about it.
Click to expand...


Any solutions?
 
Last edited:
They used to have price on their head back in the day ... in 1928, the Government of Quebec offered a reward of 15 dollars for each dead beluga. Their skin makes decent leather too.
 
HighRiser said:
Beluga taste like dice?
Click to expand...



art.jpg
?
 
Interesting. Thanks for sharing, and keep us posted.

We get an occasional whale here in the SF Bay every decade or so.

ETA: on second thought, this case is much more unusual in that the whale is so far from it's natural habitat.
 
Last edited:
sir drinks-a-lot said:
Interesting. Thanks for sharing, and keep us posted.

We get an occasional whale here in the SF Bay every decade or so.

ETA: on second thought, this case is much more unusual in that the whale is so far from it's natural habitat.
Click to expand...

Maybe not. Do the herring run up the Thames? Or did they used to?

And yeah with the 'stray' whales. We get the occasional Gray into San Diego bay. It was a calfing ground until the Nantucket whalers found it. Ever read Richard Henry Dana's "Two years before the mast" ? So I bet SF bay is "natural habitat" too.
 
Isn't the Thames brackish rather than sea-salt water at that location? Depending on the tide? Is a lot of "fresh" water in the mix (meaning ionic strength, not pure: this is the Thames you know) okay for Beluga's long term?
 
Vixen said:
The rare Beluga whale.........
Click to expand...

They're not rare at all. They're common. Their conservation status is rated by the IUCN as "of least concern". They are the most common whale species in captivity, too.

They are of course rare in our waters as they are an arctic whale, but the Thames is more than "brackish" at Gravesend where this animal is most commonly seen, it is very much a saline estuary. At that point, the river is almost a kilometre wide, so anyone thinking this whale is swimming about in a stream has got the wrong mental picture. The Thames is tidal and brackish up past the Pool of London and the Houses of Parliament as far as Teddinton Lock (it used to be tidal as far upstream as Staines, before the lock was installed). Other cetaceans have been seen as far upstream as the Pool of London (HMS Belfast). Teddington Lock is in West London between Richmond/ Twickenham and Kingston upon Thames.

This is what the Thames looks like from Gravesend. The whale has plenty of room to turn around and head in the other direction if that's what it decides to do.
 
Last edited:
Giordano said:
Isn't the Thames brackish rather than sea-salt water at that location? Depending on the tide? Is a lot of "fresh" water in the mix (meaning ionic strength, not pure: this is the Thames you know) okay for Beluga's long term?
Click to expand...

All populations of belugas use estuaries during the summer months they can vary the concentration of salt evacuation in their urine when they move from salt water, to freshwater.
 
Saw a couple of dolphins/porpoises/similar at Greenwich a few years ago. I think this sort of thing captures the public imagination, but there's a element of concern after the last (seems like the last, maybe not strictly true) well-publicised whale visitation didn't end so well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom