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All species / Megaptera novaeangliae

Megaptera novaeangliae

Humpback Whale · (Borowski, 1781)

Megaptera novaeangliae, Humpback Whale
(c) Wayne and Pam Osborn, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Wayne and Pam Osborn · via inaturalist, stored and served from this site
Red List, global
LC
Least Concern, 2018
First CITES listing
I
Appendix I, 1975
CITES trade records
509
1985–2024 · exporter-reported
Unit dimensions
6
reported separately, never summed
NAMMCO catch entries
15
catch records
Seizure records
6
reported taxon matches

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

In summary derived

Megaptera novaeangliae, Humpback Whale, is placed in family Balaenopteridae, order Cetacea, class Mammalia. The earliest CITES listing row the corpus holds for it is Appendix I, dated 1975. The corpus records 3 dated listing rows in total.

Its latest global Red List assessment is Least Concern, published 2018. It carries 3 earlier global assessments on the current scale and 5 on scales that were superseded before the current categories and cannot be compared with them.

The corpus holds 509 exporter-reported CITES trade records for it, from 1985 to 2024, reported across 6 unit dimensions. The most frequently recorded term is specimens: 347 records across 6 unit dimensions, of which 266 are measured in specimens. NAMMCO records 15 catch entries, from 1992 to 2023, totalling 76 animals reported by NAMMCO member countries, counting each year's area reports, or its national total where the year reports no area. Attribution is by the taxon name each report gave. 6 seizure records are attributed to it, being those whose reported taxon matches the species.

Composed from 17 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.status
  • species_iucn.year_published
  • species_listing.appendix
  • species_listing.listing_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
Balaenopteridae
First CITES listing
19753 listing rows; later ones are amendments
Global Red List status
LCLeast Concern, assessed 2018
Regional status (Europe)
LCRegional, 2023. Not the species status.
2 subpopulations are assessed separately

A single status for this species does not describe them: Arabian Sea subpopulation, Oceania 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
410
mass in kg
71
volume in L
13
packaging in containers
9
length in m
4
area in m²
2

Records per dimension. Not additive across units.

Trade over time

listed 19751985: 2 records1986: 1 records1987: 2 records1990: 1 records1991: 5 records1992: 4 records1993: 6 records1994: 4 records1995: 8 records1996: 1 records1997: 10 records1998: 13 records1999: 20 records2000: 16 records2001: 15 records2002: 17 records2003: 12 records2004: 21 records2005: 14 records2006: 21 records2007: 14 records2008: 14 records2009: 11 records2010: 17 records2011: 12 records2012: 23 records2013: 16 records2014: 24 records2015: 13 records2016: 24 records2017: 20 records2018: 23 records2019: 30 records2020: 15 records2021: 7 records2022: 24 records2023: 27 records2024: 2 records19801990200020102020
Peak 30 records in 2019. Trade records per year, exporter-reported, every term and unit counted as records, not quantities.
listed 19751991: 148 specimens1992: 78 specimens1993: 652 specimens1994: 450 specimens1995: 304 specimens1996: 1 specimens1997: 560 specimens1998: 875 specimens1999: 1,129 specimens2000: 694 specimens2001: 368 specimens2002: 781 specimens2003: 153 specimens2004: 3,030 specimens2005: 2,237 specimens2006: 5,983 specimens2007: 1,535 specimens2008: 635 specimens2009: 200 specimens2010: 652 specimens2011: 56 specimens2012: 402 specimens2013: 301 specimens2014: 1,846 specimens2015: 387 specimens2016: 567 specimens2017: 367 specimens2018: 595 specimens2019: 230 specimens2020: 490 specimens2021: 100 specimens2022: 204 specimens2023: 117 specimens2024: 508 specimens19801990200020102020
Peak 5,983 specimens in 2006. Quantity of specimens, the term with most records (266), in specimens, exporter-reported. Other terms are in the tables below, each in its own unit.

count measured in specimens

410 of 509 records carry a quantity in specimens. CITES leaves the unit blank to mean a count of the term.

Top 8 of 15. Bars count trade records per term, not specimens, all sources combined; the table splits them by source and gives the quantity in specimens.
TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
specimens25,969 specimens2541991–2024W
bones50 specimens502010–2023O
bones132 specimens261985–2023W
skins718 specimens141997–2021W
skin pieces726 specimens111998–2020W
baleen49 specimens102006–2019W
carvings6 specimens51999–2012O
specimens51 specimens51991–2019O
carvings4 specimens42004U
carvings9 specimens41992–2005W
skeletons4 specimens42016–2022W
specimens336 specimens42015–2022X

Showing the 12 term and source combinations with the most records, of 26.

mass measured in kg

71 of 509 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
specimens17.51 kg491991–2022W
skin pieces0.55 kg62008–2019W
specimens0.86 kg51990–2012not recorded
bones1,450.63 kg42012–2022W
baleen2.51 kg32020–2022W
skins0.38 kg21998–2023W
meat5 kg11994W
bone pieces1.1 kg12020W

volume measured in L

13 of 509 records carry a quantity in L.

TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
specimens4.77 L121999–2017W
specimens0.21 L11992not recorded

packaging measured in containers

9 of 509 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
specimens365 containers81998–2006W
carvings1 container12004W
2 smaller units: m (4 records), m² (2 records)

length measured in m

4 of 509 records carry a quantity in m.

TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
specimens0.32 m42018W

area measured in m²

2 of 509 records carry a quantity in m². Area is the surface of the item traded as the Party reported it, for example a skin sample in square centimetres; every area unit is converted to m².

TermQuantityRecordsYearsSource
specimens0.00200 m²22003–2006W

CITES listings curated

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

DateAppendixAnnotationStatus
1975-07-01Inonefirst listing
1989-02-28Inoneamendment
2000-04-02Inoneamendment

Convention on Migratory Species

Listed under CMS: Appendix I. Also covered by ACCOBAMS, Pacific Islands Cetaceans, 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.

LCNTVUENCR19651970198019902000201020231996: Vulnerable (global)2007: Least Concern (global)2008: Least Concern (global)2018: Least Concern (global)?1965: Not applicable, which records that no assessment was made — carries no position on the risk order1986: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1988: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1990: Vulnerable (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1994: Vulnerable (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order2023: Least Concern, assessed at Europe scope, not the global statusEuropeLCNTVUENCR1965198019902000201020231996: Vulnerable (global)2007: Least Concern (global)2008: Least Concern (global)2018: Least Concern (global)?1965: Not applicable, which records that no assessment was made — carries no position on the risk order1986: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1988: Endangered (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1990: Vulnerable (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order1994: Vulnerable (pre-1994 criteria), from a superseded Red List system — carries no position on the risk order2023: Least Concern, 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 E comes from a pre-2001 Red List system and is not on the modern ordinal scale. How this is defined and why some species are not scored

YearCategoryMeaningScopeStatus
2023LCLeast ConcernEuropecurrent for this scope
2018LCLeast ConcernGlobalcurrent for this scope
2008LCLeast ConcernGlobal
2007LCLeast ConcernGlobal
1996VUVulnerableGlobal
1994VVulnerable (pre-1994 criteria)Global
1990VVulnerable (pre-1994 criteria)Global
1988EEndangered (pre-1994 criteria)Global
1986EEndangered (pre-1994 criteria)Global
1965N/ANot applicableGlobal

Reported catch derived

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

YearAreaCatchQuota
2023West210
2022West210
2021West610
2020West110
2019West410
2018West612
2017West212
2016West512
2015West612
2014West712
2013West810
2012West1010
2011West89
2010West99
1992West0none

Illegal trade seizures derived

Seizure records whose reported taxon resolves to this species.

What the seizure source records

6 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
bonemegaptera novaeangliae
boneMegaptera novaeangliae
bone carvingMegaptera novaeangliae
bone pieceMegaptera novaeangliae
bone productmegaptera novaeangliae
specimenMegaptera novaeangliae

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
2024-01-10CITES Trade Suspensioncites_suspensioncurated
2023-05-05CITES Trade Suspensioncites_suspensioncurated
2023IUCN Red List Assessment (2023)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2022-05-13CITES Trade Suspensioncites_suspensioncurated
2018-03-26CITES Trade Suspensioncites_suspensioncurated
2018IUCN Red List Assessment (2018)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2016-03-16CITES Trade Suspensioncites_suspensioncurated
2015-04-09CITES Trade Suspensioncites_suspensioncurated
2010-11-29CITES Trade Suspensioncites_suspensioncurated
2008IUCN Red List Assessment (2008)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2007IUCN Red List Assessment (2007)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
2006-01-16CITES Trade Suspensioncites_suspensioncurated
2003-06-15CITES Trade: specimenscites_tradechecked against cites_trade_records
2001-06-15CITES Trade: specimenscites_tradechecked against cites_trade_records
2000-06-15CITES Trade: specimenscites_tradechecked against cites_trade_records
2000-04-02Listed in CITES Appendix Icites_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
1989-02-28Listed in CITES Appendix Icites_listingchecked against cites_listings
1988IUCN Red List Assessment (1988)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1986IUCN Red List Assessment (1986)iucn_assessmentchecked against iucn_assessments
1975-07-01Listed in CITES Appendix Icites_listingchecked against cites_listings
1965IUCN Red List Assessment (1965)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.