Balaenidae is a family of whales of the suborder mysticete that contains two living genera. Historically, it is known as the right whale family, as it was thought to contain only species of right whales.
Through most of the 20th Century, however, that became a much-debated (and unresolved) topic amongst the scientific community. Finally, in the early 2000s, science reached a definitive conclusion: the bowhead whale, once commonly known as the Greenland right whale, was not in fact a right whale.
The family of Balaenids, therefore, comprises the right whales (genus Eubalaena), and in a genus all to its own, the very closely related bowhead whale (genus Balaena). Their principle distinguishing feature is their narrow, arched, upper jaw, which gives the animals a deeply curved jawline. This shape allows for especially long baleen plates.
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