Illustration of a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and the only living representative of the genus Balaena. They are the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and subarctic waters, and are named after their characteristic massive triangular skull, which they use to break through Arctic ice. Other common names of the species are the Greenland right whale or Arctic whale. From The royal natural history Volume III edited by Richard Lydekker, published in 1893.