Rice's whale

How it lives

Rice's whales are usually seen alone or in pairs, and sometimes in looser groups thought to be linked to feeding. NOAA says they likely mature at about nine years old and have a calf every two to three years. Lifespan is unknown. They have a dark grey body, a pale to pink belly, three ridges along the top of the head and a strongly hooked dorsal fin about two thirds of the way back.

Where it goes

Rice's whales do not migrate. They stay in the Gulf of Mexico all year, mostly on the upper continental slope in the northeastern Gulf, in water about 100 to 400 m deep off the west coast of Florida. Some are also recorded in the western Gulf off Louisiana and Texas, and recent sound recordings include Mexican waters.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

The best estimate is about 51 whales (2017 to 2018 surveys), with roughly 26 mature animals, and NOAA says fewer than 100 remain. The population may have fallen by up to 22 percent after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It lives only in the Gulf of Mexico. The IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered (2022). In the United States it was listed as endangered in 2019 as a Bryde's whale subspecies and again as its own species in 2021, and it is on CITES Appendix I. NOAA proposed critical habitat in July 2023.