Rice's Whale Sweatshirt

Rice's Whale

Balaenoptera ricei

Rice's whale is a critically endangered baleen whale endemic to the Gulf of Mexico, recognized as a new species distinct from Bryde's whale only in 2021. Reaching up to 41 feet long, it occupies a narrow core habitat in the northeastern GoMex in depths ranging from 100 to 400 m and feeds primarily on schooling fish. As one of the rarest large whales in the world, it lives its entire life within a single heavily industrialized sea.

Rice's whales are threatened by oil exploration and development, watercraft strikes, noise pollution, plastic pollution, fishing gear entanglement and habitat degradation. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill is estimated to have caused a population decline of up to 22%. With fewer than 100 individuals remaining, federal scientists estimate that the loss of one whale per year could threaten the entire species.

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