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right whale

(Science: zoology) The bowhead, arctic, or Greenland whale (Balaena mysticetus), from whose mouth the best whalebone is obtained.

Any other whale that produces valuable whalebone, as the atlantic, or Biscay, right whale (Balaena cisarctica), and the Pacific right whale (B. Sieboldii); a bone whale.

(Science: zoology) pygmy right whale, a small new Zealand whale (Neobalaena marginata) which is only about sixteen feet long. It produces short, but very elastic and tough, whalebone.