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Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas)

Beluga whales may reach 5m though the average size in about 4 m. Their lifespan is 35 to 50 years. Beluga whales are born very dark grey and they will lighten up to white as they mature. They’re opportunistic feeders, belugas eat invertebrates such as octopus, squids, crabs, shrimp and a variety of fishes that includes salmon, lamprey and cod.

 

Habitat

Beluga whales are generally found in shallow coastal waters. They can be found swimming among icebergs and ice floes in the waters of the Arctic and subarctic. They can also be found in estuaries and river basins.

 

Distribution

Beluga whales inhabit the Arctic and subarctic regions of:

  • Russia

  • Greenland

  • North America

  • Arctic

 

Threats

  • Ocean noise – industrial extraction and marine construction cause underwater noise pollution. Since whales depend on sound to communicate, any noise pollution can affect negatively their ability to find food, mates, navigate and avoid predators.

 

References:

http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/whales/beluga-whale.html

 

UV radiation

A well-functioning ozone layer allows fewer hazardous UV rays through than a damaged ozone layer does. As we all know, in the Arctic, there’s a hole in the ozone layer which will allow to UV rays go through, which will be harmful to aquatic animals, in specific for beluga whales.

With the higher UV rays concentration the risk of gaining skin cancer increases as well.

 

References:

http://www.arcticsystem.no/en/outsideworld/sunlight/increasing-UV.html

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/beluga

 

 

 

 

Motivation

The fact that beluga whale have low pigmentation increases the risk of cancer since the concentration of melanocytes is lower when compared with other animals.

In our project we’ll analyse the concentration of melanocytes in different population of beluga whales, one of our population of interest is the Arctic and the other one inhabit Russia seas. In the Arctic UV rays rates are higher than UV rays rate in Russia.

 

Melanocytes are the producers of melanin that are able to grant to an individual more or less pigmentation, meaning that bigger concentration of melanin equals more protection against UV radiation.
 
As regards to beluga whale it’s expected that the ones closest to the Artic possess bigger melanin concentration than the ones located farther of that location. With a bigger quantity of melanocytes it’s to expect that the risk of acquire cancer becomes smaller, so in a darwinian point of view Artic beluga whales will have a bigger concentration of melanin in order to guarantee fewer possibilities of acquiring skin cancer.
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