The beluga whale or white whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. The native peoples of North America and Russia have hunted belugas for many centuries. They were also hunted commercially during the 19th century and part of the 20th century. Whale hunting has been under international control since 1973. Currently, only certain Inuit groups are allowed to carry out subsistence hunting of belugas. Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. All cetaceans have forelimbs modified as fins, a tail with horizontal flukes, and nasal openings (blowholes) on top of the head. Whales inhabit all the world's oceans and number in the millions. Human hunting of whales from the seventeenth century until 1986 radically reduced the populations of some whale species. They are long-lived, humpback whales living for up to 77 years, while bowhead whales may live for more than a century. Whales by Robert Hamilton, 1843.