Freaky Fish Friday - Narwhal

While those of us in the Northern Hemisphere are now into the frigid winter season, what better topic to write about than that of a special, you might even say mythical, Arctic creature, the Narwhal. These unusual creatures are what legends are made of and the source of its horn has been the topic of a few tales.

The Inuit legend of the Narwhal

A wicked woman lived with her daughter and her son, who was born blind. As the son got older, his sight improved, even though the mother tried to convince him of his helpless state. One day a polar bear came near the house and the mother told the son to aim a bow and arrow at the bear through the window covered with seal skin and strike him down. The boy pulled back the arrow and the mother took aim from him. The arrow struck the heart of the bear and although the boy could hear the groans of the dying bear, the mother laughed scornfully at him, saying that he had missed the bear. That night the mother and the daughter had fresh polar bear meat while the mother cooked dog meat for the son. Later the boy's sister told her brother that his shot was successful and secretly gave him meat.

Time passed and an old man came to the house for a visit. Before he left, he told the young girl how she could help her brother regain his sight. In the spring, he told them to watch for a red-throated loon who would swim trustingly toward them. Once the loon was close enough, the blind brother should wrap his arms around the loon's neck and the loon would take him to the bottom of the lake. Once they came up, his sight would return. The loon told the young man not to tell about his regained sight until later in the summer when he would send a pod of belugas to their campsite. 

When summer came and the ice began to break, the belugas began to move. On one occasion, a pod was closer to land than usual. The young man grabbed his harpoon and told his sister to accompany him to help him aim. They went to the shoreline and the mother, seeing the son with a harpoon, became concerned and followed them. Once she was close to them, the son gave the end of the line from the harpoon to his mother, asking her to tie it around her waist to hold the harpooned animal. The concerned mother told her daughter to make sure he was after a small animal as she was tied to the harpoon. The son instead aimed for the largest whale and harpooned him. The mother was cast into the sea. As she submerged she spiraled around the line, with her long hair twisting into a long lance. This is how the narwhal came to be. 

IS THE NARWHAL A REAL LIFE UNICORN?

In medieval times, Europeans believed the narwhal tusk was the horn from the legendary unicorn and it came with all the unicorn's magical powers. Believed to cure poisoning and melancholia, Vikings and other northern traders sold the horns for more than their weight in gold.

The name narwhal comes from the old Norse word "nar" which means corpse, referencing the blue-grayish, mottled pigmentation like that of a drowned sailor (calves are actually born brown, with no spots). The scientific name, Monodon monoceros, is a Greek derivative meaning "one-tooth one-horn" or "one-toothed unicorn". The narwhal, or narwhale as it is also known, is a medium-sized, toothed whale that lives year-round in the Canadian Arctic and Greenlandic waters, and whose closest relative is the beluga whale.

This fascinating horn is actually a very long tooth. All narwhals are born with 2 teeth in their upper jaw. After the first year of life, the male narwhal's left tooth grows outward in a counterclockwise spiral. The tooth can grow upwards of 7 to 10 feet long. The function of the tooth is not exactly known. It has been suggested it might be used as a display of dominance during rivalry or courtship, it may aid in obtaining food, or even be used to amplify sonar pulses emitted by the narwhal, but it has not been shown to be used as a weapon. "Tusking" is a behavior displayed by males when they rub their tusks against one another, possibly to determine dominance within the group.

Narwhals travel in pods of 4 (keeping to generally smaller groups under the winter ice cap)  up to 20 in the summer, feeding on fish, shrimp and squid. In winter, they eat benthic critters (flat fish) as deep as 4900 ft (1500 m) under the arctic ice. They are the deepest diving mammals. Their dives can last anywhere from 7 to 25 minutes. Sometimes these groups fall victim to the shifting ice pack, get trapped and are hunted by Inuit, polar bears, orcas, or walruses. In the summer they congregate in larger groups, in shallower ice-free waters.

Narwhals are very vocal creatures, making clicks, squeals and whistles to communicate and/or navigate.

Paul Nicklen/National Geographic/Getty Images

Fast Facts

Type:        Mammal
Diet:         Carnivore
Size:         13 to 20 ft (4 to 6.1m)
Weight:     3,500 lbs (1,600 kg)
At Birth:    5 ft; 175 lbs
Max Life Span:  50 yrs

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narwhal
[2] http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/whales/species/Narwhal.shtml
[3] http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/narwhal/
[4] http://www.narwhal.org/IntuitLegend.html