BOWHEAD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bowhead mean? 

• BOWHEAD (noun)
  The noun BOWHEAD has 1 sense:

1. large-mouthed Arctic whale

  Familiarity information: BOWHEAD used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOWHEAD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Large-mouthed Arctic whale

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

Balaena mysticetus; bowhead; bowhead whale; Greenland whale

Hypernyms ("bowhead" is a kind of...):

baleen whale; whalebone whale (whale with plates of whalebone along the upper jaw for filtering plankton from the water)

Holonyms ("bowhead" is a member of...):

Balaena; genus Balaena (type genus of the Balaenidae: Greenland whales)

 Context examples 

They are especially abundant in tiny crustaceans such as krill and copepods — favorite prey of filter-feeding bowhead and endangered North Atlantic right whales.

(Whales may owe their efficient digestion to millions of tiny microbes, National Science Foundation)

Bowhead whales are highly efficient at digesting these lipids.

(Whales may owe their efficient digestion to millions of tiny microbes, National Science Foundation)

In the lab, Miller and her colleagues analyzed samples from bowhead whales' gastrointestinal tracts, hoping to detect changes in microbial communities and lipids throughout the gut of each whale.

(Whales may owe their efficient digestion to millions of tiny microbes, National Science Foundation)

If wax esters are difficult to digest, how can bowhead and other baleen whales do so efficiently?

(Whales may owe their efficient digestion to millions of tiny microbes, National Science Foundation)

We found that more than 80 percent of the lipids eaten by bowhead whales are wax esters, but less than 30 percent remain in the large intestine, says WHOI marine scientist Carolyn Miller, lead author of the study.

(Whales may owe their efficient digestion to millions of tiny microbes, National Science Foundation)