The right whales are baleen whales with bow-shaped lower jaw and a head that is up to one-quarter of the body length. The head is hairier than most whales; up to 300 hairs are found on the tip of the lower jaw and 100 are on the upper jaw. There are also callosities (a series of horny growths) behind the blowhole, on the chin, above the eyes, on the lower lip, and on the rostrum (the beak-like upper jaw). Right whales are similar to bowhead whales, but smaller. Right whales are rich in blubber and have 2 blowholes. The eyes are very small and lips are large. They were named by whalers who considered them the "right" whales to hunt, since they were rich in blubber, they were easy to catch (they are relatively slow swimmers) and they floated after being killed.

SIZE
Northern right whales females grow to be about 50 feet (15.5 m) long, males are about 49 feet (15 m) long. They weigh approximately 120,000 pounds (54,000 kg). Southern right whale females are about 54 feet (16.5 m) long, males are about 50 feet (15.2 m) long. The females are slightly larger than males, as with all baleen whales.

SKIN, SHAPE, AND FINS
The right whale's skin is usually black with white and/or brown patches. Calves are blue to gray colored.
Right whales have no dorsal fin and no throat grooves. They have large flippers.

DIET
Right whales (like all baleen whales) are seasonal feeders and carnivores that filter feed zooplankton (tiny crustaceans like copepods, krill, pteropods, etc.) from the water. Right whales are skimmers, filter feeders that swim slowly with their mouth open, constantly eating. On occasion, they are also bottom feeders, eating benthic prey from the mud on the ocean floor. The fine baleen hairs can filter out very tiny prey including copepods, steropods, euphasiids and mysids (tiny crustaceans).

BREATHING
Right whales breathe air at the surface of the water through 2 blowholes located near the top of the head.