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Delphinapterus leucas

Beluga · (Pallas, 1776)

Delphinapterus leucas, Beluga
(c) Frédéric LEVIEZ, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Frédéric LEVIEZ · via inaturalist, stored and served from this site
Red List, global
LC
Least Concern, 2017
First CITES listing
II
Appendix II, 1979
CITES trade records
2,291
1984–2023 · exporter-reported
Unit dimensions
4
reported separately, never summed
NAMMCO catch entries
78
catch records
Seizure records
3
reported taxon matches

One of 43: each square a species, coloured by its latest global Red List category, this one ringed. Beluga Whale is among the cetaceans.

In summary derived

Delphinapterus leucas, Beluga, is placed in family Monodontidae, order Cetacea, class Mammalia. It was first listed in Appendix II in 1979. The earliest CITES listing row the corpus holds for it is Appendix II, dated 2003, a later entry than the 1979 listing. The corpus records 1 dated listing row in total.

Its latest global Red List assessment is Least Concern, published 2017. It carries 3 earlier global assessments on the current scale and 3 on scales that were superseded before the current categories and cannot be compared with them. An assessment at Europe scope records Vulnerable. This site reports the global category; the two are not interchangeable.

The corpus holds 2,291 exporter-reported CITES trade records for it, from 1984 to 2023, reported across 4 unit dimensions. The most frequently recorded term is carvings: 1,092 records across 3 unit dimensions, of which 968 are measured in specimens. NAMMCO records 78 catch entries, from 1992 to 2023, totalling 9,740 animals reported by NAMMCO member countries, counting each year's area reports, or its national total where the year reports no area. 1 of those entries reports no number and is not in that total. Attribution is by the taxon name each report gave. 3 seizure records are attributed to it, being those whose reported taxon matches the species.

Composed from 20 corpus fields, by template, with no model
  • species.class
  • species.family
  • species.order_name
  • species_catch.catch_total
  • species_catch.year
  • species_iucn.is_global
  • species_iucn.scope_code
  • species_iucn.status
  • species_iucn.year_published
  • species_listing.appendix
  • species_listing.listing_date
  • species_listing_event.appendix
  • species_listing_event.event_date
  • species_seizure.*
  • species_trade.dimension
  • species_trade.first_year
  • species_trade.last_year
  • species_trade.record_count
  • species_trade.reporter_type
  • species_trade.term

Each sentence is generated from the columns above and nothing else. The same corpus produces the same text every time. Where a field is absent the sentence is omitted rather than hedged.

Overview curated

Taxonomy entered by a named curator and versioned in the repository.

Class
Mammalia
Order
Cetacea
Family
Monodontidae
First CITES listing
1979
Global Red List status
LCLeast Concern, assessed 2017
Regional status (Europe)
VURegional, 2023. Not the species status.
1 subpopulations are assessed separately

A single status for this species does not describe them: Cook Inlet subpopulation.

Content withheld pending expert review

8 narrative sections for this species were machine-drafted and are not shown. No subject expert has reviewed and signed them.

Trade derived

CITES Trade Database v2025.1, extracted 13 June 2025.

There is no single trade total

Quantities are reported per unit dimension, per traded term, and per reporting side. These are not additive: kilograms and individual animals have no common unit, a live animal is not a carving, and an importer report and an exporter report are two accounts of one shipment rather than two shipments.

Figures below are exporter-reported.

count in specimens
1,699
mass in kg
431
packaging in containers
132
volume in L
29

Records per dimension. Not additive across units.

Trade over time

listed 19791984: 1 records1985: 1 records1986: 3 records1987: 4 records1988: 5 records1989: 8 records1990: 14 records1991: 19 records1992: 15 records1993: 9 records1994: 13 records1995: 16 records1996: 12 records1997: 27 records1998: 23 records1999: 30 records2000: 26 records2001: 49 records2002: 35 records2003: 109 records2004: 137 records2005: 101 records2006: 105 records2007: 4 records2008: 133 records2009: 101 records2010: 204 records2011: 27 records2012: 161 records2013: 108 records2014: 92 records2015: 139 records2016: 90 records2017: 40 records2018: 108 records2019: 80 records2020: 62 records2021: 92 records2022: 72 records2023: 16 records19801990200020102020
Peak 204 records in 2010. Trade records per year, exporter-reported, every term and unit counted as records, not quantities.
listed 19791990: 6 specimens1991: 12 specimens1994: 10 specimens1995: 1 specimens1996: 16 specimens1997: 31 specimens1999: 2 specimens2000: 7 specimens2001: 27 specimens2002: 18 specimens2003: 36 specimens2004: 25 specimens2005: 60 specimens2006: 69 specimens2007: 1 specimens2008: 126 specimens2009: 88 specimens2010: 221 specimens2011: 2 specimens2012: 193 specimens2013: 121 specimens2014: 94 specimens2015: 82 specimens2016: 11 specimens2017: 6 specimens2019: 30 specimens2020: 5 specimens2021: 7 specimens2022: 1 specimens19801990200020102020
Peak 221 specimens in 2010. Quantity of carvings, the term with most records (968), in specimens, exporter-reported. Other terms are in the tables below, each in its own unit.

count measured in specimens

1,699 of 2,291 records carry a quantity in specimens. CITES leaves the unit blank to mean a count of the term.

Top 8 of 19. Bars count trade records per term, not specimens, all sources combined; the table splits them by source and gives the quantity in specimens.
TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
carvings1,290 specimens9531990–2022W
teeth2,399 specimens2191992–2023W
live463 specimens1821992–2023W
specimens3,697 specimens931989–2023W
bones80 specimens491989–2022W
bone carvings48 specimens412018W
jewellery33 specimens242016–2022W
live57 specimens182006–2021F
specimens70 specimens142021F
specimens1,367 specimens111986–1992not recorded
live33 specimens111984–2016not recorded
carvings14 specimens111997F

Showing the 12 term and source combinations with the most records, of 36.

mass measured in kg

431 of 2,291 records carry a quantity in kg.

Bars count trade records per term, not kg, all sources combined; the table splits them by source and gives the quantity in kg.
TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
meat31,387.88 kg3671986–2023W
specimens47.49 kg391991–2023W
specimens20.03 kg81997–2021F
specimens45 kg41986–1990not recorded
specimens2.81 kg32016–2019C
bones9 kg31995W
skins0.07 kg22020W
skulls6 kg22001W
oil4 kg22009–2010W
carvings4 kg11995W

packaging measured in containers

132 of 2,291 records carry a quantity in containers.

Bars count trade records per term, not containers, all sources combined; the table splits them by source and gives the quantity in containers.
TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
carvings141 containers1231994–2005W
specimens141 containers81994–2001W
leather products (large)1 container12000O

volume measured in L

29 of 2,291 records carry a quantity in L.

TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
specimens0.76 L161994–2020W
specimens0.06 L72016–2019C
specimens0.36 L62017–2021F

CITES listings curated

CoP decisions, cross-checked against the appendix reported on trade records.

First listed on 1979-06-28, in Appendix II, from the CITES listing history. The table below holds the species' current listing entries, which begin later; earlier coverage is often under a higher taxon.

DateAppendixAnnotationStatus
2003-02-13II[ORDER listing Cetacea spp.] Included in Appendix II, except for the species included in Appendix I. A zero annual export quota has been established for live specimens from the Black Sea population of Tursiops truncatus removed from the wild and traded for primarily commercial purposes.earliest current entry

Convention on Migratory Species

Listed under CMS: Appendix II. Also covered by ASCOBANS, which are separate instruments with their own annexes.

IUCN Red List derived

Assessment history. Scope is always stated: a regional assessment is not the species status.

This history crosses a criteria revision

Categories from before 2001 come from earlier Red List systems. Three kinds are kept apart.

LR/lc and LR/nt are the modern LC and NT under their old names, so they are plotted as those categories and the line runs through them: nothing changed but the wording.

LR/cd was discontinued with no successor. This project reads it as Near Threatened, following a published crosswalk between the old and new Red List systems, and the chart marks such a point hollow and names both codes, because placing a category is not the same as finding it published.

The pre-1994 codes (E, V, K, T and the rest) are not on the risk order at all, so they sit below the axis and the line breaks across them. A category change across a criteria revision is not a change in extinction risk, and none of these is scored as a movement: the ledger refuses every one of them at gate 3.

LCNTVUENCR19882000201020231996: Vulnerable (global)2008: Near Threatened (global)2012: Near Threatened (global)2017: Least Concern (global)?1988: Insufficiently Known (pre-1994; not a risk category), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1990: Insufficiently Known (pre-1994; not a risk category), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1994: Insufficiently Known (pre-1994; not a risk category), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order2023: Vulnerable, assessed at Europe scope, not the global statusEurope2007: Not assessed, assessed at Europe scope, not the global statusEuropeLCNTVUENCR19882000201020231996: Vulnerable (global)2008: Near Threatened (global)2012: Near Threatened (global)2017: Least Concern (global)?1988: Insufficiently Known (pre-1994; not a risk category), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1990: Insufficiently Known (pre-1994; not a risk category), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1994: Insufficiently Known (pre-1994; not a risk category), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order2023: Vulnerable, assessed at Europe scope, not the global statusEurope2007: Not assessed, assessed at Europe scope, not the global statusEurope
  • published global assessment
  • not on this scale (below the axis)
  • regional assessment, never joined
Vertical position is the IUCN risk order, not a measured quantity: the gaps between categories are equal on the page and not in nature. Anything that is not one of the nine modern categories carries no position on that order — Data Deficient, a superseded category, or a record that no assessment was made — so it sits below the axis and the line breaks across it rather than joining through. Each point names which it is. Regional assessments are shown but never joined to global ones; they describe a different population. The dashed step crosses the 2001 revision of the Red List criteria: the category codes on either side match, the criteria behind them do not, so the step is shown and not measured.

Category movement since listing: not scored. Gate 3: the baseline category K comes from a pre-2001 Red List system and is not on the modern ordinal scale. Insufficiently Known (pre-1994; not a risk category). How this is defined and why some species are not scored

YearCategoryMeaningScopeStatus
2023VUVulnerableEuropecurrent for this scope
2017LCLeast ConcernGlobalcurrent for this scope
2012NTNear ThreatenedGlobal
2008NTNear ThreatenedGlobal
2007NANot assessedEurope (scope corrected)
1996VUVulnerableGlobal
1994KInsufficiently Known (pre-1994; not a risk category)Global
1990KInsufficiently Known (pre-1994; not a risk category)Global
1988KInsufficiently Known (pre-1994; not a risk category)Global

Reported catch derived

NAMMCO catch exports dated 11 June 2025. A reported zero is stored as zero, distinct from an unknown.

YearAreaCatchQuota
2023East514
2023Qaanaaq1031
2023Total151575
2023West136530
2022East2830
2022Qaanaaq5456
2022Total233595
2022West151509
2021North Water + West Greenland306608
2020North Water + West Greenland189593
2019Qaanaaqunknown20
2019Total263472
2019West263452
2018Qaanaaq522
2018Total213342
2018West208320
2017Qaanaaq3220
2017Total196340
2017West164320
2016Qaanaaq1620
2016Total203340
2016West187320
2015Qaanaaq720
2015Total127373
2015West120353
2014Qaanaaq3120
2014Total271405
2014West240385
2013Qaanaaq2620
2013Total305350
2013West279330
2012Qaanaaq2420
2012Total211470
2012West187450
2011Qaanaaq720
2011Total151310
2011West144290
2010Qaanaaq120
2010Total149310
2010West148290

A row whose area is a total is NAMMCO's own aggregate of that year's areas, not an area to add to them.

Showing 40 of 78 records.

Illegal trade seizures derived

Seizure records whose reported taxon resolves to this species.

What the seizure source records

3 seizure records name this species. Matching is on the taxon the source reported, case aside, and each record below shows the reported name, so a match that is not literal can be seen for what it is. Across the whole compilation, 225 of 919 rows match one of the 43 species and the rest name other taxa.

Quantities are unitless. The source gives no date or place, so the table shows the product and the reported taxon.

Records per product, not a quantity.
ProductReported as
boneDelphinapterus leucas
carvingDelphinapterus leucas
specimenDelphinapterus leucas

References withheld

Machine-proposed bindings. Shown only where an expert has signed the profile and the binding is live.

No references are recorded for this species: none is shown, and none was machine-proposed for review.

Timeline curated

Curated events. Those with no corroborating table in this database are marked.

DateEventTypeCorroboration
2023IUCN Red List Assessment (2023)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2021-06-15CITES Trade: meatcites_tradechecked against cites_trade_records
2019-06-15CITES Trade: livecites_tradechecked against cites_trade_records
2018-06-15CITES Trade: specimenscites_tradechecked against cites_trade_records
2017IUCN Red List Assessment (2017)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2015-04-09CITES Trade Suspensioncites_suspensioncurated
2012IUCN Red List Assessment (2012)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2008IUCN Red List Assessment (2008)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2007IUCN Red List Assessment (2007)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2003-02-13Listed in CITES Appendix IIcites_listingchecked against cites_listings
1996IUCN Red List Assessment (1996)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1994IUCN Red List Assessment (1994)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1990IUCN Red List Assessment (1990)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1988IUCN Red List Assessment (1988)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments

Events marked curated are not matched by a row in a corroborating table, either because none applies or because the table holds no such row, and rest on the curator alone. They are shown, and marked, rather than presented as equivalent to a table-checked fact.